


Hang Inappropriate

by Sismyn



Series: Michael's Bodyguard [4]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bodyguard, BAMF Alex Manes, Dubious Science, Gun Violence, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Jesse Manes is His Own Warning, Language, M/M, Minor Violence, POV Alex Manes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-02-18 03:08:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 36,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21770773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sismyn/pseuds/Sismyn
Summary: Michael's been getting escalating death threats for months now, and it's up to Alex to keep him safe, so long as he can focus on the job and not Michael's face. . .
Relationships: Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Series: Michael's Bodyguard [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1551736
Comments: 94
Kudos: 165





	1. Bodyguard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael and Alex get shot at, head for a safehouse, and discuss music and the darker high school stereotypes

* * *

"Get down!"

"I would love to go down--"

Alex roughly shoved Michael to the floor behind the couch just as bullets began to tear through the wall. He wasn't counting on Michael pulling him down with him. 

"Guerin, I can't return fire from the floor!" he hissed.

"You also can't return fire if you're full of holes," he said, far too reasonably.

"I'm wearing body armor," Alex replied, exasperated. The shots slowed in frequency and finally stopped. Alex peeked over the back of the couch. "And apparently we should get you some too."

"I could get some--"

Alex groaned as Michael tried to rise beside him. He pushed him back down. "Please stop flirting while I'm trying to protect you."

"So I can flirt while you're _not_ trying to protect me?"

"This is literally a full-time job, Guerin, I'm never not trying to protect you," he said grimly. "Will you please stay down until I tell you it's clear?"

Michael sighed loudly but planted himself on the floor, just in time for the door to get busted open. 

Alex held a finger to his lips, and Michael rolled his eyes. He counted the treads. Only two people. 

"This guy had a bodyguard?" one of the intruders mused. They were already across the room. 

"Where _are_ they? Did we get them?"

"Hey, look, a laptop. The client said take any notes and electronics, too, right?"

"Right."

Alex grimaced. Amateurs. With their attention on the laptop, he rose from their hiding spot, handgun up. "Actually, that's mine."

He shot the one who immediately attempted to draw a weapon in the arm, and the other raised his hands. "Jesus fuck!"

"Wow, rude," Michael said.

Alex kicked at him as gently as he could with a metal leg, but they both ran out in his distraction, the injured one leaning heavily on the other. He glared down at Michael. 

"What, I didn't get up!"

"They know they didn't kill you! They'll be back or send someone else. Get your stuff, we have to leave _now_." Alex checked around the broken-down door; the hallway was clear for the time being. He flipped the safety on and tucked his piece away. "Hurry. What do you need?"

"Everything," Michael said, throwing things into his suitcase haphazardly. "Y'know, I don't understand. None of the threats said anything about wanting my work."

Alex thought back to the letters; he was right. "They didn't explicitly say it was because you're royalty, either."

"True. Thought it was kinda weird if it was that, being the youngest and whatever." He began to wrap test tubes in his dirty laundry in an attempt to consolidate. "Hell, if they weren't addressed to me, they could've been about anyone. This makes way more sense."

"Yeah, great, someone is willing to kill you to get your science, how much longer will this take?"

"Almost done, can you grab my conditioner?"

Alex was already walking into the bathroom. "Seriously?"

"Please?"

He returned with the fancy bottle, and Michael smiled, stuffed it into a corner and zipped the case up. "Thank you." 

Last thing, Alex checked the video feed that had alerted him to their presence in the first place. Still clear. He shut it and put it in his bag which he then put over his head and across his chest. He touched the nine-stripe rainbow pin on the strap and took a deep breath. "Stay behind me."

"Gladly. Um, you don't suppose--"

"What?" Alex asked as he led them down the hall, his handgun out again. He reached up for the camera he'd hidden as they passed it and stuffed it down a side pocket.

"If it's about the science, did Liz get any similar threats?"

"Not aside from the usual 'you'll burn in hell for murdering fetuses' type bull. Besides, you know your brother keeps five guards around her at all times. She's safe."

"Right. Okay, good. Yeah." They stepped outside, and Alex quickly scanned the area as he grabbed his other camera. Their attackers had fled, it appeared. He kept his gun out but down until they got to the car. "Wait. Are you saying I'm easy?"

"Are you saying you aren't?" Alex retorted. He could almost hear Michael's responding grin. He unlocked the doors rather than look at him and get distracted by his face. "Go on, get all that in."

His suitcase went in the backseat, and Michael went in the passenger seat as Alex kept watching the lot. He dropped his gun in a cup holder and handed his bag to Michael. He was glad they'd left most of their stuff in the car.

So as not to draw attention, he drove slightly above the speed limit, just like everyone else on the road. 

"We need an actual safehouse instead of the first motel you get hungry near." 

"I don't wanna go into hiding." Michael had a hell of a pout, and he could hear it, but Alex still refused to look directly at him.

"I know you don't, Guerin. But you also don't want to be dead, so, safehouse it is."

Michael huffed. "I guess if it means we get shot at less, fine."

"Glad I have your approval to move you somewhere safer."

"Let a guy pretend he has a choice in the matter," he replied. "I didn't even want to leave the castle."

Alex had gone over why they had to; to minimize the danger anyone else was in. "Do you let Isobel hear you call it that?" he wondered instead.

"Yes. She hates it. Are we going to the safehouse now?"

He shook his head. "We're getting away. Only Cam knows where all the safehouses are. Here," he said, passing him his cell, "Call her and ask her to check out the motel to pick up the blood and casings, and have her send me the directions to the safehouse."

"Okay."

Alex kept his eyes on the road and took a meandering route around the city in case of tails. To his relief, they weren't being followed. 

"Hey, Cam! Guess who just got _shot at_?"

There was a pause in which Alex rolled his eyes. 

"Yes, we're fine. Alex threw me on the floor. Totally hot, if not for all the bullets. They wanted my notes and stuff. There were two guys, Alex shot one of them. He's driving now. Hey, Cam wants to know where you hit him?" 

"Right forearm," he said, and Michael repeated that into the speaker. 

"Uh huh. Yeah. What, no, do you have to tell them? They'll worry. You could just say we didn't like the motel. Cam, they'll freak out, don't--"

"We need the safehouse directions, Guerin," Alex interrupted. He could only drive aimlessly for so long, and he knew Cam had to tell Max and Isobel what had happened so trying to convince her not to was pointless.

"Right, yeah, can you point us to a safehouse? Okay. Yeah. But can you at least not tell Iz? Please? Okay. _Yes_. Okay. Bye."

Alex pulled into the parking lot of the next fast food restaurant he saw. Michael returned his phone and dug out his wallet at the sight. 

"How did you know I was hungry? Do you want anything?"

Alex blinked at him and waved his cell. "You're not going in. I just stopped here to read the directions."

"But I'm hungry."

He frowned down at the long message from Cam. "You're not getting out of the car unless it's safe."

"Steak n Shake is very safe!"

Alex shot him a withering look before he scrolled through the directions again. 

"Alright, alright. What about the drive-thru? Then we don't have to get out of the car."

"Okay." Alex put his phone down. 

"But I'm-- Okay?"

"Yeah. Put this in the glove box." He handed Michael his gun, and he did as he said. "The safehouse is in the middle of nowhere, so this might be the last fast food we get until the threat is dealt with."

"That could be ages," Michael said.

"I don't think it'll take _that_ long."

For a moment, Michael only frowned. "You're going, too? You're staying with me?"

"That's what you hired me for, Guerin."

"That's what _Max_ hired you for. If you don't want to be stuck with me for who knows how long, there are other guards--"

"Yesterday you seemed pretty happy to have me all to yourself," Alex said mildly.

"Well, yeah, but that was before I had to go into _actual_ hiding. I understand if you don't want to be stuck with me. Alone. For an indeterminate amount of time."

Alex snorted and put the car in drive to roll up to the menu. "If I didn't think I could handle being stuck with you, I would have quit months ago. What do you want to eat?"

They ordered several meals between them, and Alex parked again so that he wouldn't be distracted by eating as he drove to the safehouse. He absently dunked his fries in his chocolate milkshake, lost in thought about the two who had tried to kill them earlier. He was coming to the conclusion that they... sucked. They were incompetent as hell.

"Is that good?" Michael asked, staring at his hand.

"What?" Alex glanced at him and followed his gaze. "Oh. Yeah, way better. Do you think I'd be doing it if it wasn't?"

"I don't know, Alex, you're an enigma. Can I try?"

He shrugged a shoulder at him in confirmation. "Go ahead. You think I'm an enigma?"

"Yes! Okay, so, for instance..." Michael daintily dipped a fry in Alex's shake. "You're gay."

One of his eyebrows jumped up automatically, which was a vast improvement on his prior full-body flinch at the slightest implication of non-straight sexualities. Hanging out with Mr. Bisexual Pride had that effect. "Yeah, and? You've known that since the Pride festival."

Michael chewed the fry thoughtfully. "Sure, but what's your type? Obviously not science nerds. That _is_ good."

Alex squinted at him as he decisively dunked an additional fry. Michael was definitely his type. He was just also, technically, his boss. Well, Cam was his boss, but whatever Michael was, it didn't feel appropriate. Alex went with, "I don't have a type."

"See, that's mysterious as hell. You could be into any guy. Then what would I do?"

"Probably get yourself into trouble that I'd have to get you out of."

Michael inclined his chin. "Fair enough."

Alex gave him a small smile as he wiped his hands on his pants. "Ready to go?"

He groaned. "Ready to disappear when you are."

"Hey, I'm sure it won't be long," Alex reassured him as they headed down the highway out of the city. "Those guys this morning didn't even clear the room before they came in without their weapons. They seriously underestimated us, and they're bound to have made more mistakes. Cam will find them, find their client, then you can go home. Okay?"

Michael sank into his seat with a sigh. "Yeah, okay. Thanks, Alex."

"Sure. No problem."

He fiddled with his phone for a moment. "You're my favorite bodyguard. Don't tell the others."

"You don't have any others."

"You got me there."

Alex tapped on the radio. "Would you put your music on? It's a hell of a drive."

"You mean from my glorified mp3 player?" 

Alex had stripped Michael's phone down to its storage -- no WiFi, no data, no SIM; frankly Michael felt lucky he hadn't had to leave it behind entirely. He was sure Alex was going to chuck it out a window before they left. 

He plugged in the aux cable and scrolled through his extensive list of stolen music. 

"What do you want to listen to? Anything more specific than 'not country'?"

Maybe Alex _was_ more of an enigma to him than he thought. That was his usual request. "You got Panic! At The Disco?"

 _Nine in the Afternoon_ shortly bleated out the car speakers. "Did you-- Did you pause for the exclamation point?"

He took his eyes off the road for a moment, only to be met with absolute glee on Michael's face. "Yeah, 'cause there is one."

"I wish I could text Isobel right now. You're a secret emo!"

He sniffed importantly. "I'm alternative punk, thank you."

"Sure, and you, what, know every single word of their discography?"

"What makes you think that?"

"You're singing along."

"I'm talking to you."

"You're literally mouthing the words."

Alex clenched his jaw shut both to stop himself singing and prevent the smile that threatened to crack his face. 

"Aw, come on," Michael said, then began to exuberantly croon along. " _It's nine in the afternoon! Your eyes are the size of the moon! You could 'cause you can so you do! 'Cause it's nine in the afternoon_!"

He had to laugh. "That's amazing."

"I know. I'm terrible. Thank you."

"Yeah, that's what's so amazing."

"Oh, I'd like to hear you do better."

"You would," Alex replied with a smirk. "Too bad I don't sing on the job."

"Why not?"

"It's unprofessional."

"It isn't for professional singers."

"I'm your bodyguard, Guerin, not a professional singer."

"I could add 'sing when applicable' to your job description."

"You could, sure, if you had a way to convince Cam to do it."

Michael grumbled under his breath for a moment. "Hey, but thank you for letting me keep this. My music, and my photos. Solitaire."

"Of course. And it's not forever," Alex reminded him. "Plus, my phone has better encryption than ninety-nine percent of the American government, so you can still call your siblings occasionally."

"Fancy." Michael touched his shoulder lightly. "Seriously, thank you."

Alex kept his focus on the road, only giving Michael's hand a gentle pat. "I'm just doing my job. Your phone is harmless."

Michael settled back into his seat. "Right. So, about how long is this hella drive?"

"Couple hours, I think."

"Ugh. So you like PATD, then let me guess..." Another song started. " _Don't. Panic_!" 

Alex couldn't stop himself. " _No not yet! I know I'm the one you wanna forget, yeah_."

"I knew it. The secret emo likes Fall Out Boy."

"Punk," he corrected again.

"You like All-American Rejects? They're kinda punk."

"Yeah."

"My Chemical Romance?"

"Obviously."

"No, not obvious, they're _emo_."

Alex rolled his eyes, and they spent the drive discussing punk versus emo, and eventually goth was brought up, and Michael started playing an industrial goth song, and Alex subsequently demanded Ludo or he'd pull over and disconnect the radio, at which point Michael asked about scene and made Alex scoff; he explained that scene was far more colorful than he ever was or ever would be. 

"Besides, it's not just the style," Alex was saying. "It's the mindset. Emo is defeatist, in my opinion. Punk is political and anti-authoritarian."

"Riiight. Did you ever wear make-up?"

Alex waited too long to answer. "No."

"Emo. That's full emo."

"It's-- It's gender nonconformity, it's _punk_."

"Why'd you stop wearing it? I bet you looked hot."

"I did," he allowed. "But I went into the Air Force during Don't Ask Don't Tell."

"Oh my god," Michael said, and Alex glanced at him, perplexed by his stare. "I can't even imagine you with a buzz cut."

"Good. Don't. Not my best look."

"Maybe not, but don't even try to tell me you didn't rock camo." Before Alex could answer, Michael pointed out a building ahead on their right. "Oh, is that it?"

"Yup." He turned right onto the dirt driveway.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *bullshit abt stereotypical teenage phases* anyway I was emo in middle school though I was never any good at makeup . More to come! Chapter 2 will be much much much longer so you may have to wait a While, but I do know what's going to happen so ayyyy


	2. Goldilocks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael & Alex's first week at the safehouse

* * *

The safehouse was a large ranch-style place with a covered porch. It was squat to the ground, one-story unlike the sky-scraping castle, but it sprawled out from where Alex parked the car. All the visible windows were sill-less and six feet from the ground, wide and narrow and screened in with metal.

Michael twisted in his seat and pointed to the fence line across the dirt road. Beyond it was an empty field of tall grass. "Are there horses here?"

"I doubt it. Cam said in the message that this place doesn't have a caretaker, it just gets maintenance every month or two." Alex reached over to the glove compartment for his handgun. "Wait here, I'll clear it."

"Wait here?" Michael said incredulously. "Clearing it will take all day. You're gonna leave me out in the open?"

Alex looked at the building with a frown and weighed his options. It would take, generously, two hours at most, but when he thought about it, he didn't like the idea of Michael outside alone even that long. He sighed. "Right, you can come, but stay behind me, and if I shush you, _stay quiet_."

Michael saluted him, looking more pleased to not be left behind than anything else. "Yes, sir."

"Don't bring your bag right now, just... Come on."

On the porch, they stopped at a steel drop box with a solar powered keypad. Alex input the code Cam had sent him. Inside were four keys, each for the front door. He took one, then passed another back to Michael. 

"A key? Why isn't there a handprint scanner like at the castle?"

"Scanners can be hacked," Alex said. He unlocked the door and relocked it once they were both inside. "The castle has man power. The only thing here between you and potential assailants is me and these locks."

Michael examined the back of the door. There was also a heavy duty deadbolt, which he jiggled absently. "As long as you're here, I'm safe."

"I do my best," he said lightly.

"I know."

The front door dumped them into a small mudroom, and Alex looked over the cubbies quickly before nodding his approval. "I need you to wait out of view while I clear each room, okay?"

"Okay."

He tapped two fingers on the wall beside the next door. "Here."

Michael stood there to wait.

The next room was a living room with high-backed couches and a large flat screen tv situated above a wide array of DVDs on the left wall. 

Straight across from the mudroom was a counter lined with stools and beyond that a well-stocked kitchen, at least from what Alex could see without opening anything. Large windows revealed an enclosed courtyard, the door out to the left and deadbolted. 

The right wall had a doorway to a long, winding hall. 

Immediately to his left was a small room about the size of the mudroom. It was essentially a security booth. Alex was impressed; he hadn't noticed any cameras outside, but the third screen clearly showed the porch. The first showed the road they had driven up, and the second pointed in the opposite direction. Several other feeds showed various hallways and lastly, the courtyard, for nine screens total. 

Alex turned around only to catch movement in the kitchen by the fridge. He swung his arm up. Fortunately, he didn't put a bullet in Michael's skull. Alex lowered his gun. "Guerin, I told you to stay put until it was clear!"

"I thought it was! You went into that other room!"

"If I don't explicitly tell you it's clear, it's not and you don't move."

Michael hesitated. "Sorry. I didn't mean to piss you off."

Alex shook his head, aghast. "You need that body armor because if you do that again I'll shoot you myself."

"I'm _really_ sorry."

"Not on purpose! Look, I know I usually let you do whatever, Guerin, but I need you to follow my instructions _exactly_ until the threat is dissolved. I'm not-- I'm not pissed off. I'm trying to keep you safe, but I could've hurt you. Understand?"

Michael bobbed his head, curls bouncing. "Sorry, Alex, I understand. I'll do exactly what you say."

"Thank you. Come on, the sooner we clear the building, the sooner we can get settled in."

Michael trailed after Alex silently; Alex was glad he was taking the situation seriously. 

He deemed the safehouse clear within an hour and holstered his weapon without accidentally pointing it at Michael again. 

"Why are there so many bedrooms?" he wondered, tentatively beginning a conversation as they headed back to the living room. 

Alex shrugged but gave him a reassuring smile. The tension drained out of Michael instantly. "Pick one and let me know where you're at."

"Where do _you_ want to sleep?"

"Between you and the door, preferably." Alex waved his hand. "But it's up to you. Do you need help with your stuff?"

"Nah, I got it."

"I'll be in the security booth, then." He tossed Michael the car keys. 

"Okay, uh, have fun."

Alex watched from the comfy rolling chair in the booth as Michael got his suitcase and bags from the car. He stopped by to return the keys. By tracking him, Alex found the screen with the feed of the first hallway, although he probably could have intuited it. The screens were in order the deeper into the house they went.

Michael poked his head into the first bedroom. Alex was relieved when he backed out of that room and went into the second one, leaving the first for him. 

Alex double checked the rest of the screens before he went out to the car for his own things. Michael had left the front door unlocked. He took a deep, centering breath, then grabbed his bags. He locked the door and slid the deadbolt shut once he was back inside. He left most of his stuff in the first bedroom and went to the second with his laptop bag across his chest. 

Alex knocked on the door frame; Michael was lying face down on the bed. His unopened suitcase and pair of duffel bags were piled in the middle of the floor.

He grunted and rolled just enough to eye him.

"You all right?"

"Tired." 

Alex nodded and told him, "If you go out the front again, you have to manually lock the door when you come back in."

"Oh, dammit." He shut his eyes in apparent shame. "My bad. Sorry, Alex."

"It's okay, this time. I know you're used to the automatic locks at the castle, and you're tired. Just, remember to lock it next time, okay?"

"I will, I promise. Or I'll stay inside, make it a non-issue."

"You're not under house arrest. You can go outside if you want." 

He smooshed his face into his pillow. "I don't really."

Alex rubbed at his forehead. "You wanna go see what we can scrounge up for dinner?"

Michael sat up to nod. Food always managed to perk him up. He followed Alex leisurely. "I'm not making your job more difficult, am I?"

"No, Guerin," Alex answered without hesitation. 

Cam and Max had hired and assigned Alex to Michael specifically because the youngest brother didn't like to follow rules, and Alex was quick enough to adapt and handle him. Michael not listening to him or having a lapse in attention made the job exactly as difficult as expected. 

Alex set his laptop on the counter and pulled the fridge open. "Looks like we got... a ton of bottled water and a six-pack."

Michael made a pleased noise and reached over Alex's shoulder to grab one of the beers.

He opened the freezer next. It contained plenty of TV dinners and steamable bags of vegetables. He took out two boxes. "How about microwave stir fry?"

"Sounds good to me." Michael pulled open drawers in search of silverware as Alex started the microwave. "Aha! Forks. Are you gonna have a beer, too?"

"I'm working, so no."

Michael sat at the counter with a considering frown. Alex grabbed a water bottle. "Well, I think you're doing a great job. It's not like I'm gonna tell your boss if you have one. I'm not a snitch."

"Shockingly, I wasn't worried about that. This is hot." Alex placed one of the trays in front of Michael and walked around the counter to join him. "It's about, if something happens, I don't want to be impaired. That's all."

"Oh, yeah, right. Hope nothing happens but be prepared anyway. I'll only have one," he said, as if he was compromising. He took a big bite of the steaming stir fry and immediately spat it back out. "It's hot!"

"If only someone had warned you."

Michael took a long drink without looking away from Alex. "You're real cute when you're right."

"So all the time?"

"Yeah," he agreed easily.

"Thanks. You're not half-bad yourself, Guerin."

Michael grinned. "That's like the nicest thing you've said to me."

Alex tapped his fork to his lips. "I'm pretty sure that's not true."

"I suppose you're always nice to me. Except that one time you asked if I was cooking meth."

He looked down at his own tray to hide a laugh. "Your set up was very meth lab at the time, and I needed to know if I was going to have to protect you from angry dealers or something."

"That's fair, but you didn't ask Liz." 

He shrugged. "I'm not her bodyguard."

"No one would ever suspect her. I'm gonna tell her to cook meth while we're gone, gimme your phone," Michael said as he made grabby hands. 

Alex didn't hand it over. "What would she even do with it?"

"Dunno, donate it to a hospital to help treat withdrawals? She'd totally be into that."

"I feel like there's a legal route there that doesn't sound like Breaking Bad."

"Sure, take all the fun out of it." Michael attempted to eat again, and this time he didn't burn his mouth. 

They inhaled the food. Alex could tell that Michael was tired, and honestly, so was he, but he had some ideas to make the safehouse more secure.

Counter cleaned off, Alex said, "I'm going to set up an alert so that if the outside cameras catch any big movement, I get a text."

Michael nodded. "Man, that's cool. I would actually really, really like to know how that works, but I wouldn't retain a damn thing if you told me now. I'm going to bed."

"Some other time, then. Good night, Guerin."

He covered up a yawn. "Night, Alex."

Alex headed for the booth and hooked up his laptop. He noted that Michael went into the bathroom across the hall from their rooms with a change of clothes. Ten minutes later, he went back to his room in what passed for pajamas. 

An hour of tinkering with code after that, he saw Michael leave his room, frowning, and go into the next room down. He could only shake his head at the monitor.

Another hour and Alex wrapped up in the security booth and made to go outside to check that at least the porch alert worked when he caught sight of Michael in the hallway again. 

"Guerin? You okay?"

He twirled, bemused until he saw Alex. "Yeah, I'm okay, I'm just having trouble sleeping. All these beds are different, but they kinda all suck." He rubbed his neck. "Are you leaving?"

Alex shook his head. "Just testing my program. I'll be heading to bed in a minute."

"Okay." Michael looked around blearily. "I'm gonna keep going until I find a good bed."

"Uh-huh. Good luck with that, Goldilocks."

"And later I'll eat your porridge. Ha." He wandered farther down the hall as he muttered, "What the hell is porridge..."

Alex focused back on the mudroom. Two seconds after he opened the front door, his phone vibrated. That'd have to do for the night, he decided, and fully locked the door behind him.

Alex had noticed the bathroom was accessible while clearing, and now he wondered when Cam had thought to have that done, given he hadn't even been working for the Evans a year yet. Or if that was part of the reason she'd sent them to that particular safehouse. Whatever it was, he was glad not to have to sit on the floor while showering. 

Under the blankets in his room, he hoped that Michael would find a good bed sooner rather than later. He could be a handful when sleep deprived. 

* * *

Alex was awakened before the sun had fully risen, judging by the light through the high windows. Certainly before his alarm. He was awake, though, so he reached for his crutch. 

There was a knock on the door and Alex grabbed his gun instead, only to hear Michael's sleepy voice: "Alex?"

He covered himself with a sheet to hide his leg and said, "Yeah? It's open."

Michael cracked the door just wide enough to lean against the frame. "Uhh, I didn't want to wake you, but I've tried to sleep in every damn bed in this place without success except yours. Can I try it?"

He nodded. "Sure, I was getting up anyway. Just give me a couple minutes, okay?" He patted the empty space where the lower half of his right leg should've been. 

"Oh, yeah, of course." He pulled the door shut and half-stepped toward his original room, but Alex still heard him say, "Thank you."

He put what he needed right away in a bag to ferry across the hall. He touched Michael's elbow to get his attention. "Get some sleep, Guerin."

Michael nodded and shuffled toward the bed, where he unceremoniously threw himself face down and fell asleep immediately. Alex shook his head at him before he went into the bathroom. 

After he got dressed, he conducted a more thorough search of the kitchen cabinets for food and found plenty of non-perishables, including pouches of instant oatmeal. They would do for his breakfast despite the lack of liquid dairy. (He wasn't sure the powdered milk he'd located would be as good as milk, and he wasn't about to possibly ruin it to find out.)

Alex headed outside once he was finished eating and got the alert from the porch again. He walked down the side of the road and got another alert, but he wasn't getting a third when he headed in the opposite direction, so he went back inside to troubleshoot, already locking the door behind him habitually. 

He discovered that he had copied and pasted the code from the second alert and forgotten to change one of the variables, so it was an easy fix. 

He tested it again outside and got his last text. 

At that point, Alex supposed he should give Cam an update, so he called her from the security booth. 

"Cameron. Let me guess, based on the lack of caller ID, this is Manes?"

"Hey, Cam, you got me. We're secure at the safehouse."

"Great. The maintenance for that house was scheduled for next week. I'll come up myself. Y'all need anything?"

"Milk, eggs, cheese would be nice. I'll ask Michael if he wants anything when he wakes up. Oh, and he needs body armor."

"Groceries and a vest. All right, sure." She paused. "How's Guerin holding up?"

Alex sighed and spun in his chair. "He only just got to sleep, so not the best. Said he tried every bed in this place and then collapses in mine instantly... So I suppose it isn't mine anymore. Maybe we can switch the mattresses or something, you know how I like to be closest to the door."

"Guerin is so weird." He could hear her shaking her head. "Whatever, Manes, don't mess with all that. Just sleep with him if that's what he needs."

He felt his face heating up. "I'm not-- I won't--"

"Not like that!" Cam said hastily. "I only meant share the bed."

After a moment, he replied, "I guess I could deal with that, _if_ that's the case."

She ignored him. "I will say that you two are very cute and he has had a _massive_ crush on you since we hired you."

"What? Come on, that's, that's not even true. Michael flirts with everyone."

She hummed doubtfully. "Maybe so. But he doesn't stick to everyone like glue."

"I'm his bodyguard. That's in his best interest."

"You know his last bodyguard quit because he kept purposely losing her at the university?"

Alex ran his fingers through his hair. "So now he knows better. I don't understand why you think that means he's got a crush on me."

"Oh, as if you're not crushing on him?"

"Cam, okay, what is this? High school? I'm not."

"Right, right, except I know you spend a lot more time watching him than necessary."

"I have an, an aesthetic appreciation, and that's all. Anything more would be inappropriate."

"Would it, though?"

" _Yes_." Alex rubbed his forehead. "Please forget it, there are more important things. Did you get anything useful from the motel?"

"Feds got there first, they're running the blood and casings. I told them what Guerin told me, but they still want statements from both of you."

"Sure, we'll just head right over and fill those out."

"Yeah, no. I'll bring the paperwork, but you two should write down what you remember while it's fresh. In the meantime, can you describe them at all?"

Alex shook his head even though she couldn't see him. "They were wearing ski masks. I would say both of them were at least six foot one. Possibly ex-military, but I only say that because of whatever the hell they used to make Swiss cheese of the door."

"Got it. Need anything else? What about DVDs? I know there are some there, but I don't remember which ones."

He rolled the chair out to the living room to examine the cases on the shelves. "Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter... I think we'll be all right for a while."

"Forgot that you're a major dork. You two should get along swimmingly."

"We do. We _are_ friends, Cam."

"Uh-huh. Call me if you remember anything else about the shooters. Message me whatever else you guys want. I'll see you in a week."

"Okay. See you." Alex looked down at the ended call screen and tabbed back to his messages. 

He decided it would be useful if the text alerts also had a screenshot attached from the camera that caught movement.

He spent several hours on this upgrade before he saw Michael stumble out of his room and into the bathroom from the feed. After that, it didn't take long for him to appear in the security booth, dressed, with a pair of water bottles in hand. He placed one on the desk. "This is for you."

"Thanks," Alex said.

"Mhm. Whatcha doing?" Michael rested his chin on this back of Alex's chair.

"Debugging. I amended my program--"

"Your fancy alert program thing?"

"Yeah, so now it should send me a picture of whatever sets it off. I'm almost ready to test it. I found some instant oatmeal if you want breakfast, though."

"Ooh, where's that?"

"Leftmost cabinet, on the top."

Michael backed away, but he stopped at the door. "Sorry I hijacked your bed."

"I wasn't using it. Besides, if that's the only one you can sleep in, it's yours."

He frowned and crossed his arms deliberately. "But you wanted to be closest to the door. What if we just split custody of it?"

Alex rolled his eyes and turned his chair away from the screen, arms crossed. "Are you saying you want visitation rights for a bed? We can swap the mattresses."

Michael ducked his head. He said, "That's not what I want. Um, I'd feel safer if we shared. If you don't mind."

Alex slowly spun back to his laptop. "I don't mind, Guerin, it's whatever will get you to sleep. Now go eat."

He caught his salute from the corner of his eye. "Yes, sir, thank you, sir."

"Oh my god," he mumbled to the empty room.

He was hardly through double-checking one page of code before Michael was back with a bowl of steaming oatmeal. He hopped up on the desk. "There's no milk," he complained.

"I talked to Cam earlier, she'll bring us some next week. Cheese and eggs, too. Do you want anything else?"

"Yeah, we need whiskey. Wait, next week? We're gonna be here that long, you think?"

"Feds got the blood, so it could take them a week to analyze and then another to get an ID, if he's even in the system."

Michael groaned. He poked at his oatmeal with his spoon. "We really will be here a long time. Are you _sure_ you're okay with staying with me?"

"I am. Hey." Alex pushed away from the desk. "You wanna see my program in action?"

Michael hopped down, oatmeal in hand. "Yeah, show me!"

Alex felt his phone buzz as soon as they got out to the porch, but he locked the knob before he checked. The first picture was merely of the open door; the next showed the two of them peering at Alex's phone. "I only set up the outside ones to send alerts. It scans every couple frames and compares it to a base photo." Alex led the way to the road to activate the other two. "If anyone drives by or comes up to the door, I'll know, and I'll be able to see them."

"Wow, Alex. That's amazing."

"Thank you."

"No, listen, that's so extra and I know no one is gonna get me out here because of you. So thank _you_. I mean it."

Alex smiled at him. "Of course, Guerin."

Michael found the box with the cameras inside and hopped up on the fence behind it to finish eating. Alex leaned beside him, scanning the horizon. 

"Cam also said we're going to have to fill out official statements, so we should write down what we remember."

"I remember I was hungry and then I was on the floor and it was loud and you made me stay down and they wanted my work and you shot one and he said Jesus fuck, which was rude. Does that work?"

"Yeah, that'll work, but write it down when we go back inside." Alex took out his phone to begin a message to Cam. "You want anything besides whiskey?"

"Um, butter. Soup. Bread. And cereal? Yogurt? Frozen chicken strips? Mmm, wontons. All the food, please. Surprise me."

"Okay." He added those to the grocery message. "Is that it?"

"What about equipment? I want my microscope. And a Bunsen burner."

"I'll ask her."

Michael finished off his oatmeal and jumped down with a wistful look to the field beyond the fence. "Can she bring a horse?"

"I doubt it, but I'll ask. What is it with you and horses?"

"The hat's not just for show. Or it wouldn't be if I hadn't left it behind. I was really a cowboy for a little while when I was a kid. I guess I just miss it. I mean, I never got shot at while riding."

"So it's nostalgia for before being almost murdered by hit men. Understandable. You ready to head back inside?"

"Yes, I want to set up what I do have and get back to work."

"Statements first. I think I saw a few notebooks in the booth."

They went inside and sat at the kitchen counter again to write. "How detailed am I supposed to be?"

"Just write what you remember," Alex said as he scribbled steadily. 

"Hmmm. Didn't you tell me to stop flirting with you?"

"Write what you remember that's relevant to the shooters. Then date and sign."

"Okay." Michael finished his recollection long before Alex did and proceeded to stare at him.

"You don't have to wait for me," he said. "I'll put them away."

"Sure, but I, uh, I need help setting my stuff up."

Alex raised an eyebrow without looking up from his statement. "Do you, now?"

"Yes," he said tersely, then shook his head and held up his scarred left hand. "My hand's acting up."

"Okay." He was pretty sure Michael didn't have more than a few things to set up, but if he said he needed help, he'd help him. "I'm almost done."

"No rush, I can wait. Thank you." He leaned his elbow on the counter, and Alex could feel his eyes on him. 

Nonetheless, he finished up his own recollection in a few minutes and pushed the papers aside. "What do you need help with?"

Michael sat back as if bewildered by Alex's question. "Actually, my hand's fine, I don't need help. I just wanted to sit with you longer."

Alex squinted at him, then picked the papers back up. "Whatever you say, Guerin. I'm going to go put these in a folder and do some work. Let me know if you need supervision."

"I will," he said. 

* * *

Alex checked in on Michael in his original bedroom an hour later. He clearly had no problem getting set up; he already had his safety glasses on, and he leaned over the desk where he'd set up his series of test tubes, his own small notebook open and ready near his right hand.

"Doing all right?" Alex asked. 

"Yup. On the bright side of going into hiding, Liz can't distract me from my projects with her projects." He scratched into his notebook far more readily than he had his statement. 

"Is it an important science project?"

"Yeah, I think so." Michael straightened up to stretch. "If you have time, I'll tell you about it."

Alex nodded, and Michael offered him the only chair in the room. He sat and examined the tubes. Each one contained a more opaque white liquid, the lightest one almost completely clear. 

"So I'm comparing synthetic amniotic fluids."

"You're making test tube babies?"

"God, no. It's a stability test. I'll be growing babies once I figure out which one is most stable. Well, not personally, but I _could_."

"Okay. I thought it was something acidic." He waved at his glasses. "That's way better."

"It is sort of acidic! Like a uterus."

"Ah." He sat back to put more distance between himself and the acid. "How are you qualifying stability, then?"

"Evaporation rate, for now. I'll be changing the pH of each solution in relation to fetus growth once I have a baseline. Then I'll measure it again."

"So you're just watching them?"

"Yeah, pretty much. I'm probably gonna miss getting pulled into Liz's projects in like ten minutes," Michael admitted.

"You two will be riffing off each other again in no time," Alex said.

"Yeah. Yeah." He stared at the tubes for another moment before he looked over to Alex. "You got projects? Will you tell me about your program now?"

"Yeah." He stood up. "I'll show you how it works, come on."

Michael pushed his glasses up into his hair, which was, in Alex's opinion, adorable, so he quickly turned to lead the way. 

He listened raptly as Alex described the methods and classes and how the program recognized changes in the images, wrote to files, and saved pictures. 

"It's so cool how you can just build stuff with text. I need to actually be holding things in my hands to put them together in a way that makes sense. Speaking of which, I actually might want to tinker with the car at some point."

Alex squinted at him. 

"I used to be a mechanic."

"When you were a kid?" he guessed.

"Yup."

"Cowboy engineer, huh?"

Michael grinned. "Has a better ring to it than foreign prince, I think."

"Certainly sounds like you have a preference."

"It's cooler, yeah. Although, it is way easier to get funding for science stuff now. Plus I've got you. So I suppose it's not all bad."

"No," he agreed. 

"Do you have other projects you can tell me about?"

"I think I'm going to try to make my own interface for my phone for the video feeds. An app, basically."

"You can just _make_ apps? That's awesome."

"It's fun. Although, if the set up is similar across our safehouses, I could probably push it to all the guards' phones, and have certain streams unlockable with, hm, expiring pass codes distributed by Cam..."

Alex began to sketch the UI in a notebook, only to feel Michael's eyes on him again. He shook his head and put his pencil down.

"Sorry, I'm not explaining anything."

"Don't be sorry," Michael replied with a smile. "You do your thing, I'll do mine. Tell me all about it later?"

There was something encouraging in his expression. At least, that's the first word Alex thought might match. "I will."

* * *

"Alex," Michael called from the couch not long after they'd eaten dinner. "Come hang out with me."

He rolled his chair to the door and leaned out with a frown. "I'm still working."

Michael sat crisscrossed; he pouted at him. "But I put in Star Wars. I even found popcorn. Come on, you can take a break for Star Wars, can't you?"

Fatality. No, Alex thought, he couldn't let it be that easy. "Which one?"

"The best one, of course," he replied. "Come watch with me, or I will blow out the sound system."

"Okay, okay, hold on," Alex said as he rolled back in to save his progress. The theme song shook the walls. "Jesus. Turn it down, Guerin, I'll be out in a second."

The movie was still audible when he came out of the booth, but they were no longer in danger of prematurely losing their hearing. Alex plopped down beside Michael, who instantly cuddled up to him, head on his shoulder. "Yesss I needed a pillow."

He put his arm around Michael's shoulders to give him a more comfortable angle, then Alex read the crawling text to identify the movie. "This _is_ the best one."

"I wouldn't lie to you."

"You literally told me you needed help setting up earlier but didn't." Alex ruffled his hair and reluctantly dropped his hand back down. How was his hair so damn soft? Alex was glad he'd rescued his fancy conditioner from the motel. 

"I wouldn't lie to you about Star Wars," Michael amended. 

"Who's your favorite?"

"I'm gay for all three," he replied, waving his hand at the screen. 

Alex laughed. "Really? I definitely crushed on Han. Sorry, Luke," he said unapologetically. 

"Well, sure, it's Harrison Ford, how could you not? But I don't know, I wanted to _be_ Han. So Leia in terms of crushing. She has some of the best lines. Also, Carrie Fisher was a badass."

"God bless Space Mom, strangled by her own bra in the moonlight."

Michael sniffled and snuggled in closer. (Alex hadn't thought it was possible.) He grabbed the bag of popcorn and held it up. "To Space Mom."

He took a handful and passed it on. 

"To Space Mom," Alex agreed.

They could both quote the movie beginning to end, and every time one shared a bit of trivia, the other finished his sentence. Michael quieted as the movie went on, and he was sleeping on Alex by the time the credits rolled. 

Alex poked him in the cheek. "Not only do I refuse to, I can't carry you."

"Why not?" Michael mumbled. 

"You're too big, and I only have the one leg."

He giggled. "That's what she said."

"Sure she did. Come on, dude."

"Okay." He got up, and they headed for the bedroom. "Alex, there's something you should know."

He said it so seriously that Alex stopped abruptly outside the door. "What?"

"I'm a serial cuddler."

He snorted. "No shit, Guerin. If I didn't already know, I figured it out two hours ago."

"Right," Michael said, a sheepish smile on his face. "You won't throw me out if I migrate in my sleep?"

"I won't throw you out. Go get your stuff." Then he added, "Give me a couple minutes to get my leg situated, all right?"

"Yeah, of course."

Twenty minutes later, they were both beneath the comforter.

"Thank you, Alex."

"Mmhm. Go to sleep."

* * *

Alex woke up to his alarm. He slapped at his phone and had to shove Michael's arm from where it was slung across his chest. Michael was sprawled out beside him. He barely mumbled, "Too early," before he rolled away.

After his serial cuddler comment, Alex had been expecting a more koala-like position, so that was nothing.

Thus the week passed, each of them spending most of their time working on their respective projects, occasionally pulling the other out for a meal. They ended each day with a movie. 

Cam texted Alex during lunch on their sixth day at the safehouse to inform him she'd be up their way in the morning.

"Any other last minute stuff you want?" Alex asked Michael.

"Uhh, I want Izzy."

"She can't come out here. She'd be in danger." 

He sighed. "I know."

Alex flicked through his contacts before he offered his phone to him. "But you can call her."

"Oh! Thank you, Alex." 

"Guerin," he said before he could walk too far away. "Any time you want to talk to them, you only have to ask. Just let me know if it dings while you're on it."

Michael nodded at him with a smile before he went out to the courtyard. Alex absently watched through the windows as he paced in circles around the picnic table out there. He'd finished his lunch and was getting ready to return to work when Michael came back inside. 

"Yeah whatever tell Max I said hey. No, I'm fine. Okay, bye Izzy. No, bye Iz. Uh-huh. Bye. We'll be back soon, right, Alex?"

"Uh, possibly. A week and a half if they find the guy I shot and get him to flip on their client."

Michael covered the mic. "How likely is that?"

Alex shrugged. "If the DA makes him a good deal, pretty good."

"Soon. I don't know, Izzy, another week or two? Listen, Alex needs his phone back now. Bye."

He accepted his phone, which he didn't _need_ , per say, at that moment, but he did like to have it. 

"God, she's way more annoying when she doesn't get to question me in person every day," Michael said. "It's been one week."

"Well, you did get shot at. She's just worried."

"She shouldn't be," he said with an air of stubbornness. "I have you."

"You do," Alex said. "Finish your lunch."

"Yes. Can't wait till we have real food."

"These aren't the worst. They have flavor, at least." Alex prodded his empty tray across the counter.

"Not particularly filling, though."

"No," he said. "Tomorrow, we'll have real food."

* * *

The first alert that Alex didn't set off himself indicated a familiar car coming up from the south. He could make out Jenna Cameron's blond side braid through the windshield. She appeared to be alone. 

Moments later, his phone rang, and he answered. "Hello, Cam."

"Come help carry this stuff. And have Guerin come get his equipment."

"Coming." He called for Michael from the hallway. "Guerin, Cam's here."

"Thank God, I wasn't sure how much longer I could live without butter."

"Believe me, you learn to survive." Alex led the way outside. "Just hope we won't have to crack into the MREs in the storage room."

"Yeah, you definitely don't wanna get into those," Cam said, a freezer bag on her arm. She handed another to Alex. "Guerin, your equipment's in the back. Liz also gave me a copy of some of her notes for you, and she said she included some slides that might be of interest to you with the microscope. Other stuff too, I don't know."

"Scans of her notebook?" Michael flipped open the binder in the backseat. "Dammit. I literally have to decipher these."

She shrugged. 

"More ways to pass the time," Alex said. 

Michael nodded, stacked up the equipment, binder balanced on top, and headed for the porch. 

"We could rotate guards, you know," Cam said.

"No," Alex said. "We don't need to. I'm good to stay, and that's safest."

"All right, Manes."

They went inside, and Cam helped them put the groceries away. 

"So, I don't plan on coming back for a month. If I drive out here too much, it looks suspicious." She waved at the kitchen cabinets. "Don't eat all the food before then, or you _will_ be eating MREs and you will _not_ be happy about it."

"Yes, ma'am," Michael said through a slice of buttered bread.

She turned to Alex. "You got those statements for me?"

"Yeah, in the other room." She followed him into the security booth and eyed his laptop, which was open to the code for the app. He handed her the folder. "Here."

"Thank you. What are you up to there, Manes?"

"Oh, I just thought it might be handy to have the feeds directly on my phone and notify me about changes, like an app."

"Might be. Yeah, it might be." Cam rolled her eyes. "It's a great idea. Keep me updated with the progress on that, okay?"

"Okay, but I don't know when it'll be ready." 

She shook her head. "I still want to hear about it. That'd be dead useful." She went back out and said, "Guerin, I am not bringing more bread if you eat it all today!"

"I forgot how good it is," he said defensively, though he then tied off the bag.

"Well, save some for your bodyguard. Your siblings said hello, by the way." Cam nodded to Alex. "I'll text you any updates on the case. The feds are searching their databases for matches now."

"Hooray," said Michael.

"Yeah, fingers crossed I see you guys again before the next maintenance round. In the meantime, sit tight."

"Got it," Alex said. He walked her to the mudroom. "See you."

He watched her continue north rather than turn around and head south. She was going the long way. 

Alex locked the door and returned to the kitchen to find Michael setting up frozen chicken strips to bake for their lunch. "How many do you want?"

"Four, thanks."

After a week of frozen dinners, chicken strips had never tasted so good.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I drew a reference image of the safehouse floor plan. . . [Ta da](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LhWDBLKP11rct13_nL-rdcJ5PWT_NZQq/view) (For some reason, it won't put in the image with img src, it just breaks.)  
> I have determined the the big fuck off room I labeled "idk don't worry about it" is a storage room with extra blankets and mres and such. wahoo


	3. My Immortal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another week and a half in the safehouse; Michael goes full koala, Alex teaches him some self-defense, a holiday occurs, Cam comes to visit, Michael and Alex have a movie marathon, and Alex begins to have a revelation (:

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey in case you missed it! [First](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22074745) in the Michael's bodyguard series is Alex and Michael's first meeting (: it's not really relevant but it's there

* * *

After two total weeks of sleeping in the same bed and always waking up before Michael, Alex woke suddenly before dawn only to find Michael sitting up against the headboard with a sour expression and his arms crossed.

"Are you okay?" he asked cautiously.

He shook his head. "I wanna go home."

"I know you do, and you will." Alex reached for his phone. He hadn't gotten any updates since the in-person one the prior week. He swiped a message. "I just texted Cam, but it's four in the morning, Guerin. She probably won't see it for a few more hours. Have you slept?"

"No," he scoffed.

Alex was sympathetic, but he couldn't take Michael home. He pushed himself up to sit beside him. "Two weeks was the absolute minimum amount of time it could take. If that man's in hiding, or if he's died from complications, or if he's been killed for their massive screw up, it's going to take much longer. I know that's not what you want to hear, but if it does take months to dissolve the threat, I want you to be prepared for that. Hiding out is what's safest for you and for your family."

Michael dropped his arms and nodded. "You're right. I know that, but it's frustrating. I thought we'd be home by now, that I'd still be able to fly to Europe and visit my parents this week, but we're sitting out in the middle of nowhere."

"You know Cam's on it. We'll get you home safe, then you can go on your trip." Alex squeezed Michael's shoulder. "The best thing you can do right now is get some sleep. Come on."

Alex tucked him under his arm, and they sank down. 

"Can I...?" Michael wrapped an arm around his middle. Alex guessed that he needed something to hold onto. 

"Yeah. Here." He carefully combed his fingers through Michael's hair, and he slowly relaxed. He waited until Michael was asleep to go back to sleep himself.

* * *

Michael got more and more koala-like as the week went on, especially when Cam could only promise to message them as soon as there was an update.

"Guerin, you're a thousand degrees, get off of me."

"But you're so soooft."

Alex pushed at him slightly to no avail. The man had his arms wrapped around his ribs. "You called me a hard ass back when we got that first threat."

"Your ass is grass, an' I'm gonna mow it." The quote lost any edge it might have had given Michael was mostly asleep and muffled by Alex's shirt.

"Okay, Tina. If you don't want me to boil alive you need to either give me some space or get rid of the comforter."

Michael went with the latter and kicked off the comforter. Alex sighed and played with his hair until they both fell asleep.

* * *

"You know anyone named Kurt Bishop?" Alex asked casually during breakfast.

"Don't think so." Michael frowned at him over his cereal. "Isn't that a comic book character?"

"No, that's Kate."

"Right, right, the real Hawkeye."

"This is the guy I shot in the arm. They have him in custody." He showed him the mugshot Cam had forwarded him a few minutes prior. "And they couldn't save his arm because he let it get infected. Apparently he tried to do self-surgery rather than get caught in a hospital. Explains why he's _ex_ -Army."

Michael glared at the picture. "Does this mean we can go home?"

"Not yet. The other guy is still out there, and whoever hired him could always hire more. This guy says he doesn't know who their client was, or who his partner was. I think his brain's infected. But it's progress and one less shooter."

He huffed. "How'd they get him?"

Alex re-read Cam's message. "He went to a hospital for the infection and got flagged as a GSW. Matched my description of the wound."

"Nature is amazing. But he's arrested, right?"

"Yeah, Cam said... attempted murder, conspiracy to murder, the works, though there's to be some leniency involved for cooperation."

"Cooperation? Not knowing who the other people are?"

Alex shrugged. "Not actively obstructing the investigation? He may not know their names, but he may be helpful in tracking them down."

"Let me in a room with him, I'll make sure he doesn't know."

"I don't have the words to tell you how spectacularly bad that idea is."

"He tried to kill us, I think I'm owed a good punch to the face."

"Your face or his face?"

" _His_. God, he's an arm short, I think I could level _one_ hit."

"Have you ever been in a fight?" Alex wondered. 

Michael made a contemptuous noise. "I've been in loads of fights."

"Did you win?"

"I didn't lose."

"So no? When did you even get in fights?"

"I used to hang out in a lot of bars. People are assholes. Also, high school. Teenagers are assholes."

"They are," Alex agreed. He had his own share of fights with assholes. "But this is a big guy with military experience, Guerin. I wouldn't like your chances, even with him injured."

"I did wrestling," Michael offered with a grin.

Alex squinted at him. "You did not."

"Okay, I didn't do like, official sport-sanctioned wrestling, I did bedroom wrestling, but--"

"Yeah, I don't think that's going to be an effective way of punching this guy in the face," Alex interrupted.

Michael leaned away from the counter to cross his arms. "What do you suggest then?"

"I suggest that you not try to punch the hit man in the face or otherwise assault him."

Michael booed that suggestion. 

"How much self-defense do you know?"

"I know how to duck. I have you for everything else. Hey, would _you_ punch him in the face for me?"

Alex tilted his head with a smile. "At the first opportunity."

Michael gasped then. "You should teach me."

"What?"

"Teach me self-defense! Just in case. Like with the body armor."

"The body armor that's on the floor in your lab?"

"It's heavy and itchy," he complained. "If someone comes to shoot us up here, you'll see on your app and tell me, and I'll go put it on then. Please teach me, Alex?"

He frowned at Michael. "If I teach you, you only use it for self-defense, right?"

"What else would I use it for?" he asked innocently.

Alex eyed Michael. "Instigating fights."

"I would never!" He jumped up, eager eyes on Alex. He put his fists up. At least his posture was correct. "Can we start now? I wanna learn how to flip Max."

"You want me to teach you self-defense so you can instigate a fight with your brother?"

Michael put his arms down. "You won't let anyone get to me, so yeah, it's pretty much just to beat Max up. He's a nerd who was too tall to get stuffed into any lockers."

" _You're_ a nerd."

"So are you."

Alex rolled his eyes and slid off his stool. He waved at Michael to raise his fists again. He had his thumbs inside, and his left hand wouldn't close completely because of the scarring. Alex gently adjusted his fingers. "You shouldn't use this hand to punch with if you can avoid it. You'll break your fingers with any substantial force. That's also why you should have your thumbs on the outside."

"Okay," Michael said, examining the adjustments. "Got it. How do I flip someone over? Especially if they're bigger than me?"

"I think you're skipping a few steps." Michael pouted at him, and Alex sighed. "It's doable. Your best bet to flip someone bigger than you is to use their momentum against them."

"Meaning?"

Alex rubbed his forehead. "If I was coming at you to punch you high, you would duck and grab my waist to haul me over. You wanna go for a person's center of gravity because that affords you the most control over where they go."

"Yeah, okay, physics," Michael said, nodding. "Will you show me?"

"Show you?"

"Flip me?"

Alex grimaced. "No."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want to hurt you, Guerin. If we had sparring gear and mats, maybe, but getting flipped hurts." Alex looked down and tapped his foot. "These are hardwood floors. Better than tile or cement but would still knock the air out of you, at the least."

Michael lowered his fists, his lower lip jutting out, but there was no way Alex was going to touch him with any possibility of hurting him. "How am I supposed to learn, then?"

"I'll show you other things, I'm just not flipping you without a controlled environment," he replied flatly. 

Michael booed again.

"You keep booing me, I'm going to get a complex."

He grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, Alex. Show me something else?"

Alex raised his arms, and Michael mimicked him. "Assuming you're going hand to hand, you want to stay loose until you're blocking. If your attacker goes high--" Alex waved at him, and Michael attempted to land a right hook, but Alex fluidly swung his left arm up to deflect him. "Then they're open to your other hand. Like I said, don't make a fist with your left, but you can use the butt of your palm, this part. You shove as hard as you can up into someone's solar plexus, that'll make most people lose their breath and give you a chance to get away."

"That's here?" Michael said, laying his hand over the center of Alex's ribs.

"Yup." He had to wait a moment as Michael lingered. 

"You're ripped," he mumbled when he finally pulled away. As if he'd somehow failed to notice while he was literally using Alex as a pillow.

"I work out," Alex said tersely. Much of his core strength came from merely swinging himself around on crutches and grab bars, but he kept that to himself. "Go on."

Alex showed him additional simple blocking techniques for the next hour, though he eventually figured out that Michael was just getting a kick out of Alex deflecting whatever he threw at him. 

They each cracked open a water bottle, and there was a momentary silence as they drank. Michael broke it by saying, "So you're definitely the coolest person I know."

"Sure. I'm still not going to flip you."

He laughed. "Damn, you've seen right through my plan to flatter you into flipping me."

Alex gave him a coy smile. "The gym at the castle has mats and gear. When we get back, I'll flip you all you want."

Michael leaned on his hand with a smirk. "Promise?"

Alex rolled his eyes and headed for the booth. "We'll practice more blocking tomorrow, okay?"

Michael saluted him. "Yes sir. Can't wait."

* * *

Over the course of the next three days, what Alex taught Michael seemed to stick. He even managed to make Alex stumble towards the end of their allotted hour, which had Michael apologizing profusely, though it had more to do with Alex ignoring his knee than anything Michael did. 

"I hope you don't apologize this much in the middle of an actual fight," he said instead of acknowledging his leg.

"No, if I get lucky like that, I'll use the opportunity to push them all the way over and get away," Michael recited, just as Alex had drilled into his head.

"Good. You're a natural, Guerin." Alex clapped him on the shoulder, and Michael beamed back. "How about lunch?"

"Yes, food. I'll make it. What do you want?"

He shrugged and sat on a stool. "I'll eat whatever."

Michael opened the fridge and closed it again. He bumped his head into the metal. "Shit."

"Hmm?"

"Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, isn't it?"

"Dunno." Alex opened the calendar on his phone. "Yup."

"Damn, I'm gonna miss it! Mr. Ortecho was going to make a small turkey for me so I wouldn't have to share..."

Alex listened to Michael bemoan his missed dinner in between arranging bagel bites on a baking sheet. He was texting Cam about perhaps delivering substitutes with the next maintenance check up when Michael's tone changed, and he tuned back in. "Sorry?"

"I asked what you were gonna do for Thanksgiving if you weren't stuck up here with me." He still looked a little guilty about that. 

Alex shrugged. "Work."

"But don't you have like, a bunch of brothers and your parents?"

"Just the three brothers. They've got their own families, if they're even stateside. They're all military, like my dad, and there's no way I'm giving _him_ the pleasure of my company. Besides, you guys have better food."

"Arturo _is_ the best."

"Yeah. Honestly, most of my family thinks of me as the black sheep, which is fine by me. But then my mom is native: she doesn't celebrate so much as start riots."

"Oh, shit. Do you want me to shut up about it?"

Alex smiled at him. "No, you're fine. There's a difference between liking food and family and using native imagery to push colonial propaganda."

"I do like food. So much. And Izzy. Max is okay." He sighed. "I really didn't think we'd be here so long."

Cam messaged him back to inform him that she'd come up in the morning because Arturo would be cooking for them regardless of their location. That would be a pleasant surprise for Michael. He put his phone aside to listen to Michael rave about Arturo's best dishes. He could only agree.

Once they finished their bagel bites, Michael asked to borrow Alex's phone to talk to his siblings, and Alex passed it to him. "Thank you, you're the best."

He took it out to the courtyard again. 

He returned over an hour later, when Alex had long retreated back to the security booth. He had a wide smile. "Thanks again."

"No problem, Guerin."

Michael leaned against the desk, clearly unwilling to leave, though he didn't say a word. The silence got too awkward for Alex.

"So, I've wondered, and I hope it's not impolite of me to ask, but why are you Guerin and the twins Evanses?"

"It's not impolite. At least, I don't think it is. I don't know why more people don't ask." Michael scratched his head. "Maybe because it's a long story." 

Alex nodded at him to continue, and he sat back.

"We were never actually supposed to be in this country, but when we were kids, the three of us were on a plane that crashed while passing through. We were the only survivors. That's how this happened," Michael said, holding up his left hand. "We were too young to know anything, plus the trauma of the crash... We wandered around the desert for a while before getting picked up by a truck driver. It must've been days because no one made the connection between us and the crash. Our parents were looking for us like mad, but they weren't even sure where we went down. Some chucklehead entered us into the system separately despite us being found and brought in together, which didn't help."

The story wasn't just long, it was depressing. "How old were you?"

"Seven. No one came to claim us, and we were mute after what happened, so we got new names and we were put up for adoption. You've met Ann and Phil, right?"

"Yeah?" He knew they weren't the king and queen, but Alex had figured they were an aunt and uncle or something.

"They only wanted a daughter, but Isobel and Max were codependent as hell back then, so they were nice enough to take both of them."

"And leave you?"

Michael shrugged. "I probably smelled like trouble, plus with my hand, I was just a money sink. But I was lucky enough to stay in homes close to them, so it wasn't too bad, even if I did end up aging out of the system and living in my truck for a while." He hastily went on when Alex frowned deeply at that. "But I knew we had to come from somewhere, so I spent ages researching disasters that happened around the time we turned up."

"You found them?"

He grinned and confirmed, "I found my mom in 2009. I emailed her and she replied like lightning. By then, our names had stuck and we'd been Isobel and Max and Michael longer than anything else. It took a little getting used to, but god, it was so good to be reunited."

"I can only imagine," Alex said, missing his own mom at the thought. 

"Besides all that, though, I'm technically a bastard, so traditionally I would have a different surname anyway. The king's my dad, but my mom isn't the queen. It's all cool though."

"It is?" He had thought that sort of thing was usually pretty scandalous, at least in fiction, but he didn't have the foggiest idea.

"I didn't ask for details, because they're my parents and I absolutely don't want to know, but I'm pretty sure they're polyamorous. They even told us we can call them both mom, and I do. I went from zero to three parents, which was awesome for me. But Max and Izzy went from two to five, and I think that was too much for them." Michael picked at his jeans. "I feel kinda bad for all of them. They never let Phil and Ann be their parents, but they don't remember how to let the king and queen be their parents, either." He shook his head. "Don't tell anyone I said that. Everyone involved will just feel guilty even though it's none of their faults."

"I won't. I'm sorry that all happened to you," Alex said.

"Thanks, but don't be. I've met a lot of great people and have done some really cool things I never would have had the opportunity to do in the old country."

Alex snorted. "The old country?"

"It's so old! I'll bring you if you want, you'll see. I was supposed to go visit last week, but unfortunately someone wants to kill me." Michael crossed his arms and looked down thoughtfully. "Can your phone make international calls?"

"Yeah. Gonna call your mom?"

He sniffed and nodded, so Alex shooed him from the room with his phone. He decided he would call his own mother when Michael came back.

Another hour later, Alex ended up having only a brief conversation with her, given she was preparing for a protest, but he was glad to hear from her. 

Every time he spoke to his mother as an adult, he had to wonder how she and his father ever got together to have _four_ children, given they were so diametrically opposed. 

But, like Michael and his parents' polyamory, Alex was sure he'd never ask how exactly it happened.

* * *

Sleeping in the same bed as Michael meant Alex was no longer free to get up when he wanted because he didn't want to disturb him, in much the way people with animals in their lap refused to move. Also like people with animals, Alex just sat there petting his hair until he woke up and moved on his own.

He got a notification from the south road in the morning, a little before eleven, Michael's usual time to wake up. The picture was of Cam's nondescript ride. He could just make her out through the windshield. 

He reached back and gently shook Michael's shoulder. 

"What?" he said sleepily.

"Cam's here."

"Thought she was only gonna come by once a month?"

"Surprise," he said. His phone rang at the same time he received a porch alert, showing Cam on the caller ID. He accepted the call. "Hey."

"Come open the door. My hands are full." He checked the alert and indeed she had an aluminum tray under one arm and a grocery bag on the other, her phone in hand.

"But you called us?" Michael said.

"No, I called Manes. Open the damn door or I'll drop everything and go."

"Uh, do you mind going, Guerin? I still have to put my leg on."

"Yeah, 'course. Be right there."

By the time Alex considered himself decent, Cam and Michael had already laid out most of the food on the counter. 

"Don't start without me," Michael said as he dashed past Alex. "I'm going to the bathroom."

Alex and Cam each took a roll as soon as he was in the hall. "So you're sticking around to eat?"

She nodded. "For a bit. I'm having lunch with my sister, then I'll be overseeing dinner at the castle."

"Sounds like a lot of turkey."

"Yeah, I'm probably going to die."

Michael rushed back in and looked positively scandalized by the bread in their hands. "Why do you hate me?"

"Do you want the list chronologically or alphabetically?" Cam asked. 

Michael only pouted at her.

"I don't hate you, I was just incredibly hungry," Alex said. "For bread."

Cam gave Michael a hard look.

"I didn't eat all the bread!" he said defensively. "Just most of it."

Alex took another roll. They each got a plate to load up before sitting at the counter, Cam between Michael and Alex. 

"So how are Izzy and Max?"

"You called them yesterday, did you not ask?" 

"How'd you know I called?"

"Max told me."

"Snitch. Well, they don't tell me everything, like, are they okay?"

"Yeah. I mean, they're worried about you."

"I knew it. Max called me bud yesterday. He never does that unless he's being a bitch. Would you tell them I'm completely safe with Alex?" Michael said with a wink.

"You're adorable," Cam said flatly. 

"Aw, you don't mean that."

"I do not." She twirled her fork between her fingers. "Unfortunately, it doesn't matter how competent your bodyguard is, you're their brother and they worry."

"Thank you for calling me competent," Alex said. 

"You're overqualified is what you are," Cam said.

"Alex is the best," Michael said. "He's going to teach me how to flip Max."

Cam snorted. 

"Theoretically," Alex said.

"Yeah, sure, whatever."

"You know, actually, the idea's growing on me. I'd love to see you flip your brother."

"Do you think I can?"

She hummed through some turkey. "I mean, yeah, you definitely have the _ability_ to. But you do realize that I taught Max and Liz self-defense, right? Still give them refresher courses every couple months."

"Ah, dammit, I thought it was just Liz." Michael frowned. "But I still have the element of surprise on my side. And Alex." He leaned around Cam. "You could take Max, couldn't you?"

"Uh, _yeah_."

"Self-defense classes aren't really for fighting trained operatives, retired military or otherwise, they're for defending yourself from randos off the street," Cam said. "Yeah, you have a slightly better chance fighting off someone like me or Manes here, but we'd still kick your ass."

Michael leaned on his elbow and said, dreamily, "You guys can kick my ass any day."

"Gross," she said. They ate quietly for a moment. "I do have other news, though. Bishop gave us his bank information. Whoever hired him directly deposited a down payment. Of course, the details are hidden behind approximately a billion encryptions and proxies and whatever. Right now, we think the money came from Russia."

"Do you need me to--"

"I don't know anyone in Russia."

Alex shook his head. "Russia has been trying to destabilize governments all over the world for ages. Look at what happened here in 2016."

"But I hardly have anything to do with _any_ government."

"But your mom plays a big part," Cam said. "She oversees a lot of cybersecurity, plus she makes sure no nasty propaganda gets spread. Both of which are the Kremlin's M.O. If she went into mourning for you, things could start slipping through the cracks."

"Ugh, won't this take longer if it's not someone local?"

"If it's really Russian money, yeah," Alex said. "I could follow it and make sure."

"We're poking at it very carefully for now, Manes. And your parents have contacts and spies over there, Guerin. We'll make it safe for you."

"So it's not about my science?"

"Could be a red herring, could be a bonus."

Michael huffed. "It's not like I'm trying to put anyone on the moon. Currently."

"Wait, what?"

"I did aero engineering for, like, ever, then Liz came along and I thought the chemistry stuff was more interesting, so I dropped it. Temporarily. I'm actually going to build better artificial wombs, I just need to know what they have to withstand first. Hence the artificial amniotic fluid tests."

"You need a better word than artificial womb," Cam said.

"I'm partial to pod."

"Isn't there a whole-ass movie warning of the dangers of pod people?" Alex asked. 

"No idea. Jenna, did you bring pie?"

She took a foil-wrapped pie-tin from the grocery bag along with a tub of cool whip. "Arturo's pumpkin pie."

"You know me so well," Michael said, jumping up to get a large spoon to ladle out the whipped cream onto his slice.

"Gee, Guerin, you want any pie with that?" Alex teased. 

He shrugged and passed the tub along. Cam opted out of pie, with the assurance she'd have plenty later. 

She stood with a sigh when they finished eating. "Manes, I need to talk to you about something personal before I go. See ya, Guerin."

Alex nodded as Michael waved; he followed her to the mudroom. "What is it?"

"A Jesse Manes called us last week."

He automatically grimaced. "Why?"

"Wanted to know where you were. I told him we don't share information about employees without express, explicit permission. He got real belligerent about that, said you're his son and he has the right to know where you are."

"Bullshit."

"That's what I said." Cam patted his shoulder. "Just thought you ought to know that he might try to break the restraining order when you get back."

"Did he say why he wanted to know?"

"Some crap about the holidays. Don't worry, Manes, I didn't buy what he was selling. I'd also be happy to cap him, if that'd help."

That startled a laugh out of him. "Oddly, I don't think it would. But thank you."

"No problem. Let me know if you change your mind about capping him. Bye, Manes." She gave him a salute, and he mimicked her. 

"Bye, Cam. And thanks for everything else, too."

"Sure thing. Keep taking care of Guerin." She lowered her voice. "Max is planning on a big bonus for you next month."

"I'm just doing my job."

"You're going above and beyond. I may have also mentioned how useful the app is."

"It's not ready yet. You haven't even used it."

Cam opened the front door, and Alex's phone chimed instantly. She raised an eyebrow. "You've worked hard. You deserve whatever big fuck off bonus we give you, so, uh, fuck off, Manes."

"Am I the only adult here? Thank you. Get out."

"Sorry, am I impeding on cuddling time?"

"Bye, Cam," he said.

She wiggled her fingers and left. 

Michael was sitting on the sofa and staring at the blank TV screen when he returned. 

"Uh, you okay, Guerin?"

"Food coma." He shook himself out of it as Alex walked by into the booth. "No, no working, it's a federal holiday!"

He spread an arm to indicate his attire. "I'm not a Fed."

"It's a food-eral holiday, and you're a legit snack." 

Alex paused in the doorway, a smile threatening to break through his calm and cool facade. "That was really, really bad."

"The worst," he agreed. "Remind me to tell it to Max. He'll flip his shit."

Alex nodded and leaned against the door frame. "If I can't work, and I can't eat any more, what am I supposed to do?"

Michael made a show of thinking about it. Then he said, "Harry Potter marathon?"

"Yeah, okay." Alex settled in beside him once he'd put the movie in. "What house?"

"Ravenclaw," he said firmly.

"Hell yeah, birds."

"You too? Yes! Isobel is all, I'm definitely a Slytherin, and Max oscillates between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor depending on whether Liz is around or not. And Liz is the same with Ravenclaw and Gryffindor."

"They should get a room."

"Right? I mean, they have a room, they're literally engaged, but they don't use it. Ugh, go make out about it _there_."

"You know who should have made out?" Alex asked, nodding at the screen. 

"Harry and Hermione?"

" _They_ did kiss," he said.

"What, when?"

"In the seventh one. The eighth one?"

"No, but that was the fake them from the locket."

"Whatever, I was talking about Harry and _Draco_."

Michael snorted. 

"No, come on, think about it. Harry's obsessed with him. Draco's always trying to get his attention."

"Well, it'd be more compelling than half the shit JK came up with," he said with uncertainty. "Wait, did you like My Immortal?"

"No," Alex replied far too quickly. 

Michael grinned. "Were you a goff?"

"Absolutely not. I have always been punk."

"You keep saying that yet providing evidence to the contrary."

"Listen," Alex said, poking him in the cheek. "I liked it because it was horrible, not because I happened to share a fashion sense with her version of Harry. Which isn't to say I was goth."

"Whatever you say, Alex."

They made it through three movies with running commentary (their agreement that the third was the best, and a discussion of the various theories about Scabbers, including Alex regaling an alternate universe he'd read where McGonagall figured out who he was when Ron couldn't transfigure his rat into a teacup properly). 

They were barely ten minutes through the fourth movie, and Michael snored quietly on Alex's shoulder. His hand found its way to Michael's scalp of its own accord. He loved the softness of his hair. He loved that, even asleep, Michael pushed his head into Alex's hand. He loved--

"Oh, god dammit."

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh honey . . .  
> Ok tbh abt the fighting stuff I uhh I took taekwando in elementary school (nearly two decades ago) and I don't remember much. It's Probably accurate but if you're getting your self defense information from fics, I would advise checking out YouTube...  
> So I never personally shipped any non canon HP stuff, but there was a pretty awesome my immortal web series. The fic was before my time but I did find copies of it. I know I have seen the last three movies at least twice each but I don't remember shit. Their houses here are my own opinion of *their* opinions, but really 🤷 (I'm biased bc I'm Ravenclaw anyway lmao). As for the TERFy JK shit uhhhhh fuck that lol. I'm sure they'd discuss it, but this fic takes place last month. (I started writing such a discussion before I remembered the timeline.)  
> Edited to fix the year Michael found his parents! It was 2009 not 2008. My bad.


	4. Gemini

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Results, baby. Michael and Alex's last few weeks at the safe house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! I originally intended this chapter to end sooner than it does, which makes it longer obviously, but it also includes some trigger warnings specifically regarding Jesse Manes. It's that fucking guy so general violence and homophobia bullshit warnings, yeah, but if you would like more, slightly-spoiler-y information, including when precisely it comes up, check out those end notes~ Plus Alex has a mild anxiety or two...

* * *

"What?" Michael said tiredly, awoken by the sudden curse.

"Nothing," Alex replied, and he shoved his hands into his pockets. 

Michael hummed doubtfully but settled right back onto Alex's shoulder. 

Alex had to force himself not to thread his fingers through Michael's hair again. How had he not realized sooner? Michael _was_ exactly his type, and they'd been alone together in such close quarters, and he was so... so everything.

Alex was in love with Michael.

Maybe he _couldn't_ handle being alone with him. If his feelings were going to be a distraction, well, Michael needed a bodyguard who could focus on protecting him. 

Even if no one else could possibly care about his safety more than Alex. 

Besides, it wouldn't be right, he was an employee. Michael didn't like him more than he liked anyone else, either. He could just keep it to himself and eventually he'd get over him.

"Hmm, Alex?"

"Yeah?"

"You gonna pet my hair again or what?"

He automatically raised his hand to do as he asked. 

"Thank you."

"Uh-huh."

Alex couldn't look away from his small smile, even when Michael went back to watching the TV and fell back to sleep on his shoulder.

He was never going to get over him at this rate.

Maybe, yeah, he would ask Cam to replace him. He just needed to come up with a reason to tell Cam, and Michael.

* * *

"Earth to Alex," Michael said over breakfast two days later. He waved his spoon at him, fortunately oatmeal-free. "You awake?"

"Sorry, yeah," Alex said, shaking his head. "What were you talking about again?"

"Asking Cam to bring my telescope. The geminids are in two weeks. Although out here they'd probably be visible to the naked eye. What were you thinking about that's more interesting than a meteor shower?"

"You," Alex blurted out, and had to duck his head into his elbow when Michael smirked, because otherwise he would have bashed it into the counter. He'd _practiced_ this, dammit. "I mean, I think I should... maybe not... be your bodyguard anymore."

The smirk fell away. "Oh. Can I ask why?"

He sat back up. He remembered reciting this line to the monitors in the booth. "I feel that someone else could do a better job than me."

Now Michael squinted at him suspiciously. "But you're the best."

"I'm really not."

"Well, you're the best bodyguard I've had, and I had _eleven_ before you, because apparently I'm a 'problem' and 'difficult to work with.' Quoth Jenna." Michael looked down and tapped his knuckles on the counter. "Was it something I did? It's usually something I do. I can make sure I don't do it again if you tell me what it was."

"No, Guerin, you didn't do anything wrong. I just think someone else should be your bodyguard." Boy, this conversation was not at all going as Alex had planned. It also wasn't making him feel any better about his decision to try to put some distance between them.

Especially given Michael's utterly bemused expression when he looked up. "But you haven't done anything wrong either. Unless you're the one trying to kill me. You're doing a terrible job of it if you are."

"No," he said, aghast, "I'm trying to keep you alive. But someone better should do it. Not me."

"Is that what you _want?"_

He blanked at that question, or rather the fact that Michael took his hands in his to ask it. "No?" he said slowly. Alex wanted to protect Michael. He wanted to stay with him. He wanted to love him.

"Great, okay. Then how do you think someone else would be better? You _sure_ you don't need me to be, like, less obnoxious?"

"No!" Alex pulled his hands away and regretted the loss instantly. "You're not obnoxious. Jesus, Guerin. Someone else would be more focused than I've been the last few days, which is sort of important for protecting you."

"You were watching me while I made boring notes yesterday, what's more focused than that? And you do that all the time. At both of Isobel's galas, I didn't see you looking anywhere else. That's your job," he said, though he suddenly seemed unsure. "Isn't it?"

Alex wanted to groan. Perhaps he'd been in denial about his attraction to Michael longer than he'd thought. "I should've been watching the crowd, not you. You, uh, looked really good, so I--" He cut himself off before he said too much. 

"We had a whole army there. No one was going to try anything." Michael hesitated, his eyes wide. "You thought I looked really good?"

Of course he latched on to that. "Yeah," Alex admitted. 

"Iz always has to threaten me to get me in that damn suit, but if you thought it was good, I guess it's worth it." Michael frowned down at his cold breakfast. "Do I have this right? You think somebody else should be my bodyguard because you... think I look good? You like me or something?"

"Guerin, come here," Alex mumbled as he waved Michael closer. He leaned over curiously, and Alex caught his face between his hands, eyes on his lips, and kissed him softly when he didn't pull away. Better yet, Michael wove his fingers through his hair to keep him close. _That_ felt more right than their entire conversation so far.

"Oh," Michael said breathlessly when they pulled apart, though only so far as to rest their foreheads together. "You _do_ like me."

Alex wanted nothing more than to taste his laugh, but he held himself back and joined in instead. "Yeah, I do."

"But you said, at Pride, you said it was inappropriate."

He winced. "Honestly still feels it to me."

"Okay, I get it, _that's_ why you want somebody else to be my bodyguard, right? So that it wouldn't be inappropriate for us to date?"

"No, because I'm d-- Sorry, do you _want_ us to date?"

Michael slid off his stool, inserted himself between Alex's thighs, and squeezed his shoulders. "I've been flirting with you literally since I met you." When Alex only stared at him, he continued, "Yes, Alex, I very much want us to date. Please date me."

"You flirt with everybody as soon as you meet them."

"Yeah, but nobody like you. I don't like _anybody_ as much as I like you. Date me?"

Alex's grip on Michael tightened. He'd thought for a while that Michael would be the death of him, but he didn't think it'd be through his sincerity. After maybe too long, he nodded. "I'll date you." Michael smiled at him brightly. "But I can't be your bodyguard anymore."

His smile evaporated. "I don't see why not."

"I'm distracted." Like by how he could feel every one of Michael's fingers in his hair and how he _wanted_ him, all of him, every inch of him pressed against him. "Someone-- Someone not distracted would do a better job than me. Keep you safe."

"I feel safe now. Am I distracting you?" Michael asked from far too close to his ear. 

"You're killing me, Guerin," Alex managed.

"Can't have that." He felt Michael's breath ghost over his cheek before he left a soft kiss on the corner of Alex's mouth. "I know the fix." 

"What's that?" He gently kissed him back, one hand traveling up his side to tangle in his hair. He wanted gentle for Michael, he wanted soft for him. He wanted good. Better.

"Make out with me."

He didn't have to tell Alex twice. They pushed together, nearly smiling too much to kiss properly. Nearly.

When they took a break to breathe, still forehead to forehead, Michael said, "I knew it. I said at Pride. You _are_ good at that."

"I did tell you so."

"And then you didn't prove it until now. I've been deprived. _Deprived_ , Alex."

He hummed. "I could try to make it up to you."

"Yeah? How?" 

Alex tugged Michael in for more kissing; he supposed there would be time to talk about the replacing-him thing. 

(After all, if they brought in someone else, that'd be one more person who knew Michael's location, and it'd be that much harder to keep him safe. For the time being, he could stay.)

And indulge himself a little, too, because kissing Michael was nothing short of a joy. He told him so, too, and Michael made an excellent little noise at the compliment that Alex catalogued as yet another thing he loved about him.

Alex dropped off his stool in pursuit of that noise, and his knee smarted for the way his prosthetic hit the ground. He must've made a face because Michael stopped immediately, looking concerned. "Did I hurt you?"

"No, but I need to sit down. Come on." Alex took both his hands and led a clearly eager Michael to the sofa.

"I do have that effect on people."

"I know, come on."

Michael pushed Alex over into the cushions and kissed him enthusiastically, all the more for Alex giving an appreciative moan. 

They did not get any actual work done that day. They were lucky Alex remembered food; Michael was so preoccupied with worshiping him he ignored his stomach. They stood in front of the microwave holding each other up, hip checks and soft kisses. 

"I never wanna stop touching you," Michael admitted when he sat to Alex's right. 

"I don't want you to stop." He offered his hand to thread carefully in Michael's left. He scooted his stool close enough that their knees touched.

Michael smiled and pulled their hands up to drag his lips along Alex's knuckles. 

When they finished eating, they spoke at the same time.

"Would it be too fast--"

"Do you want to--

They laughed.

"Bedroom?"

"Bedroom."

They stumbled over each other to get to their bed.

"So, um, Liz, she--"

"Why are you bringing up Liz right now?" Alex said, more focused on unbuttoning Michael's shirt.

He huffed and tugged at Alex's vest as he spoke faster. "I was, well she knows I like you, a lot, and she's an asshole, so she sent condoms and stuff with my microscope."

"You're definitely not microscopic," Alex said flatly. 

"Thank you for noticing. Do you-- Do you want me to go get them?"

"They're in your room?" he asked as he kissed down his chest.

"Yeah, yeah, _Jesus_."

"You want to leave this room--"

"Fuck no--"

"We could do something we don't need them for first," Alex suggested.

"Absolutely that, come here," Michael said as he pulled him back up. It was like orbit, the way they both kept finding the other's lips between their teeth.

* * *

Alex welcomed the weight of him once they were both spent, but his knee twinged in protest of continued use. Michael caught his grimace. 

"What is it?"

He shook his head. "My leg, but it'll be fine."

"Can I help?" Michael pressed a kiss to his jaw. "What can I do?"

Alex wrapped his arms around Michael's waist. "You can not worry about it. I'll deal with it later."

"You don't have to deal with it alone."

Alex could only squeeze him in reply. He waited until Michael was asleep before he eased away to take off his prosthetic. 

Michael was not asleep. "Alex, I want to take care of you, too," he said, following him up and pressing his lips to his shoulder. 

"No one--" Alex shook his head and his voice dropped to a whisper. "The only people who have seen my leg since I lost it were doctors."

"Me seeing you wouldn't change anything. I promise." Michael pressed one more kiss to his neck before he pulled away, though he let his fingers linger on his lower back. "But I won't look if you don't want me to. I'll be over here."

Alex nodded with a sniff before he bent over to get at his metal ankle. "Thank you."

Michael slowly ran his fingers up and down until Alex joined him under the sheets again. "Better?"

Alex kissed his temple. "Mhm."

"Good," Michael said, burrowing into his side. There was silence aside from their slowing breathing. "Alex?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you blow everybody's mind the first time or am I special?"

Alex pulled him up for a proper kiss. "It's both, actually, and the feeling is mutual."

Michael grinned and let his hands wander. "You're definitely special to me."

There was nothing Alex could say to that; he merely smiled back. He fell asleep with Michael's promise about his leg on his mind. 

* * *

Alex woke up first, long before his alarm, slightly startled that Michael was wrapped around him naked (wait, so was he) until he remembered the previous day. Then he couldn't help but happily press himself closer. Michael molded to him and mumbled his name, automatically kissing his collarbone. 

Alex let him sleep and drifted off again himself. 

When his alarm went off, he had never been more pissed at himself for having one. He dismissed it quickly, but it was still enough to wake Michael and make him whine. "Don't go yet."

Alex patted his cheek. "Couldn't go even if I wanted to. You're on top of me."

"You could flip me over like you did last night."

He rolled his eyes. "So it was a sex thing all along, wanting me to flip you."

"Was that not obvious? I'm just out here making up intricate rituals to touch other men, you know?"

Alex laughed, though it turned into a moan when Michael began to suck marks on his neck. When he couldn't take it anymore, Alex did just as he had suggested and rolled them. "Isn't this early for you?"

Michael ran his hands down Alex's thighs. "It is never too early for this with you."

"Good."

* * *

"We should shower," Alex said, some hours later. 

Michael nodded, though he didn't bother to move. "I'll make breakfast."

"After we shower," he said flippantly.

"Oh." He blinked at the ceiling before he turned his head to look at Alex. "I don't think I'd be able to, uh, avoid seeing your leg in that case."

"I know." Alex gave him a small smile. "But you promised, and... I trust you."

"I'm glad to hear that." Michael propped himself up on an elbow. "What do you want me to do?"

"Nothing you wouldn't normally do showering with someone."

"Think the chair will hold us both?"

Alex laughed. "We're cleaning up, Guerin."

"Well _normally_ if I shower with someone I'm having sex with them, so, yeah."

"We already did. A _lot_. Hence the shower."

"Yeah, I know," Michael said fondly, and he leaned over to kiss him. "Can you blame me for wanting more when it's this good?"

Alex didn't answer, too busy kissing him back. 

Eventually, they got through a shower and had a simple lunch in the kitchen. 

"Can I ask about your prosthetic?"

Alex tapped it against the counter. "Yeah, what about it?"

"The machinations? And why does it bother you sometimes?"

He shrugged. "It's my leg being gone that bothers me. It hasn't really stopped hurting, it's just manageable most days."

"Oh, yeah, like my hand. So the prosthetic is good?"

"I can walk on it," he said noncommittally. "Doesn't get much better than that."

"Why not?" Michael turned in his stool and waved his hands. "Can I see?"

"Yeah, but I can't overextend my knee for long." Alex carefully maneuvered his right leg so that the boot-covered titanium foot rested in Michael's lap. 

"I thought they were mostly plastic these days. Yours looks way cooler."

"That's why I went with titanium. Plus I think the plastic is kinda creepy." 

"How do you mean?" Michael asked as he gently ran his fingers over the prosthetic. 

"It's... It's uncanny. It's trying too hard to look human and it's _off_. The metal isn't pretending to be something it's not. But mostly it looks cool."

Michael lowered his leg back down slowly, with just as much care as Alex had bringing it up. "You don't have it where you can look at it much, though."

"I don't really like to," he admitted. "And I don't like people treating me differently because of it."

Michael nodded. "Sometimes I cover up my hand for the same reason."

"With a glove? Michael Jackson style?"

He grinned. "Nah, I couldn't always afford gloves, but bandanas are cheap. Fortunately I haven't felt like I had to in a while. Got therapy for that. Besides, my hand's a lot less obvious, and it's not as important as a leg."

"Hey. Your hand _is_ important. I'm glad you haven't needed to. I hope I get to that point one day."

Michael took one of Alex's hands. "You will. You're determined like that."

"Thanks." He stood up, and Michael hastily did the same. "I should probably work for at least a couple hours today."

"You can work on me," was Michael's bright suggestion.

Alex kissed him shortly. "Don't you have a time sensitive experiment?"

"It's not _that_ time sensitive," Michael complained as Alex pulled away. 

"Give me at least two hours."

He stole another kiss before he let out a dramatic sigh. "Fine, I'll check my pod fluids."

Not ten minutes later, he hopped up on the desk in the security booth. "I have come to bother you."

"You're succeeding," Alex lied without looking up from his laptop. He was totally focused. Definitely.

"Can I text Cam?"

"Yup." Alex pulled his phone from his pocket and handed it over. 

"Thank you."

Alas, that only occupied him for a minute. He placed the phone back face down before he began to stare at Alex. He could only stand it for two minutes. 

"One hour?" he requested, eyes flicking away from his laptop. 

Michael had the most potent pair of puppy dog eyes Alex had ever seen. He tried to resist, but he ended up shutting his laptop a moment later.

Such a hardship.

* * *

They went a week and a half with no news of the case. They did somehow manage to get work done. Occasionally. Well, they were steadily getting better about working and eating and some form of balance. 

Alex got a call around noon and absently accepted it, his mind on his morning with Michael. "Manes."

"It's Cameron, hey. I'm about to head up with more food and a telescope."

"Telescope?" he repeated blankly. 

"Yeah, Guerin texted me that he wanted his telescope. I don't have _his_ telescope because there is no way I'm going to try to move his big-ass one from the castle roof, but I ordered one off the internet."

"He texted you?"

"Yeah, with your phone. Did he steal it from you?" 

He pulled it from his ear to look at the message thread from a week and a half before, and only when he looked at the timestamp did he vaguely remember handing it over. "No, no. Sorry, I just... I'm a little distracted."

"You feeling okay?"

"Yeah, totally, I'm great." He tapped his fingers on the desk. "Um, Cam, hypothetically speaking--"

"Oh, god, what?"

Where to even start? "You said that Michael and I, as a concept, wouldn't be inappropriate, uh... Why?"

"Hang inappropriate, Manes, concepts, whatever. You being in love with Guerin means you have a vested interest in his safety, which is highly appropriate."

"I'm-I'm not--"

" _Hypothetically_. I mean, you're in denial if you think you aren't, but I'll grant you hypotheses." She paused, and Alex tried to stamp out the panic spreading through him. "If it's the being with him itself that's your problem, before Max met Liz, I was Max's bodyguard, and we used each other as scratching posts. No one is going to judge you for being a pair of consenting adults."

"I feel like that was more information than I needed to know." But fine, he could accept that it wasn't contextually inappropriate to be with Michael. If he couldn't he wouldn't have kissed him in the first place. The real problem was that he couldn't do his job. "Regardless of-of that, I am invested in Michael's safety, Cam, of course I am. But I have a unique perspective where I know I don't pay as much attention to the environment as I should. He's not actually as safe as he could be with me as his bodyguard. Because I'm-I'm distracted."

"Huh," was her only answer.

"Cam, he should have someone else."

"Nah," she said. "Did you know that Guerin used to do tons of stupid shit and got himself in trouble almost constantly? His previous guards didn't always prevent him from getting hurt, either because they were too late, or they let it happen. I fired that one," she added quickly. "Nonetheless, I have a whole stack of folders full of minor injury reports for him. Here's 2018."

There was a thick, wobbly paper noise that made Alex nauseous. "So?"

"The last one I've got is from a week before we hired you. It's the only one from this year. He asked me the day I hired you how to keep you around, and I told him to stop doing aforementioned stupid shit, but this is Guerin we're talking about so I damn well know he hasn't, despite his promise not to run you off for at least a year."

Alex decided to neither confirm nor deny that Michael still did stupid shit.

"You know what you've given me instead of injury reports? Close call reports. There were only two for Guerin before you. Maybe because no one bothered to fill them out, maybe because they all turned into injuries, but you must be doing something right."

"Cam..."

"Anyway, how does Guerin feel about you wanting to quit?"

Alex sat up rod straight. "I don't _want_ to quit. I want Michael to be properly protected. He just-- He just doesn't understand that I'm not good enough to do that."

"Please. He doesn't want you to, either," she surmised. "Guerin _is_ well protected. By _you_."

"I know I'm going to miss something," Alex insisted. "Or my leg--"

"Shut the hell up, Manes, you told us when you started your leg would be fine and you weren't lying, don't start grasping at straws now. And you don't miss shit," she said firmly. "How's this? I'll test you when you guys get back."

"What sort of test?" 

"Field test. Subtle. Nothing too fatal," she said. "And when you pass you stay on."

"You can't give me something easy to make me stay on."

"Manes, have you ever known me to let anyone get by easy?"

"No," he grumbled. "Fine. When I fail I'll help find someone better."

"You won't fail, but fine."

"Fine."

"See you two in a few hours."

He huffed out a breath. "See you then."

* * *

"Guerin, come help Cam bring stuff in!" Alex called from the hall when he got an alert from the north road. He waited to open the door until he got a picture of her with a pair of freezer bags from the porch. By then, Michael had joined him and dropped a kiss to his cheek. 

Alex smiled at him, opened the door and immediately had to accept one of the bags shoved at him. 

"Hey, Manes." She nodded to Michael. "Twerp. You look happy."

He rolled his eyes. "Hi Jenna. Bring anything fun?"

She jerked her head to the car. "I didn't want to accidentally break yours, so I got a cheap one that can just live here."

Michael frowned and went to the trunk where he lifted out a long white box. "This is horrid, I'm disgusted." He marched straight past them into the courtyard and began to unbox it. He leaned around the door when he realized they were unpacking the food. "Did you get that thing at Wal-Mart?"

"Undisclosed internet vendor," Cam replied. 

Michael scoffed. "It's nowhere near as good as mine, but I suppose it'll do. The light pollution isn't so bad out here."

"You're welcome."

"No, yeah, thank you Jenna." He eyed the grocery bags. "You guys need help with those?"

Cam squinted at him, but Alex waved his hand and said, "Nah, go set up your telescope."

She rounded on him as soon as the door shut behind Michael. "Hypothetically?"

"What?" Alex said as he arranged things in the fridge. 

"You're already sleeping with him and you asked me _hypothetically_ if it was appropriate?"

He froze, though the cold air from the fridge reminded him to close the door after a moment. 

"Manes. Hello?"

He shook his head and looked at her only to see her smiling, which made him feel a little less like his insides were curdling. No one had ever smiled at him before attacking. "What?"

"I knew you two would be cute. I said, didn't I?"

Alex decided to feign ignorance as he continued to put away groceries. "What are you even talking about?"

"Guerin is _happy_ even though he was so annoyed about being out here before. He even offered to help, but you sent him away to play with his new toy. Now you're bright red. But really, it's mostly the fact that you're both covered in hickeys. You-- Manes, don't look so frightened," she snapped, and he jumped, so she made an effort to soften her voice. "I already told you I think it's great. There's no need to get all deer-in-the-headlights, I'm not going to run you over."

"I know. I know that. I'm-- I know."

She sighed; he was obviously still tense. "I'm not sticking around long today. How about I forget about it, and we go back to talking hypothetically?"

"Please."

She waved her hand. "Tell me the latest on your app."

Grateful for the subject change, but still in fight-or-flight mode, he replied, "Well, rather than expiring pass codes to access the safehouse feeds, I figure you can just send out permissions directly as needed. No need to mess with codes at all."

"Excellent. We don't use the safehouses very often, so that would be much easier for me to manage. But you might want to build in the capability anyway in case you ever want to scale it up."

"Why would I want to do that?"

"So you could sell it?"

"But I'm making it on your time."

"Manes, did you sign a contract that said anything you make on our time belongs to us?"

"No."

"So you can do what you want with it." She squeezed his shoulder. "I'm gonna go talk to Guerin for a minute, and then I'm gonna go."

Alex nodded, arms crossed tightly, and he leaned back against the counter to watch them through the windows. 

They came inside moments later, despite the telescope being only half set up, and Cam waved at them. Michael stood beside him, scuffing the floor, until Alex's phone chimed to indicate that Cam was out the door. 

Then Alex was being hugged, and he couldn't help but melt into Michael.

"What's this for?" he mumbled.

"She said you looked like you needed a hug, and you did."

"Yeah, I did," Alex confirmed, balling his fist in Michael's shirt. "Can we just... stand here for a bit?"

"I'll hold you as long as you like," he said. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

Alex took a deep breath. "Cam thinks we're sleeping together."

"Uh, are we not?"

"We are, I just--" He shook his head. "I was always in danger of getting hurt whenever I was outed, so I didn't want her to know."

"Jenna won't hurt you. None of us will."

"I _know_. I know that. But I'm still... _like_ this, so... I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize, Alex. It's not your fault that you had a reasonable reaction."

"It was irrational, not reasonable."

"But there _was_ a reason, a good reason, and that's okay. You're okay."

Alex dropped his head to Michael's shoulder. "You sound like a therapist."

"Well, when you see one more or less bi-monthly for a decade, you pick up some things. I usually just Skype her from my room, but she lives in the barracks, like you."

"Of course she does."

Michael rubbed his back. "I could hook you up. If you want."

"Maybe. I don't know."

"Hey, she's helped me deal with my shit all these years, you know she must be good."

Alex nodded slowly. He was clearly missing a couple of tools for fighting off anxiety. "Remind me when we get back."

"Will do, Private."

"I'm still not army, Guerin."

"What's the Air Force word again?"

For some reason, they were swaying and slowly moving in a small circle. "Airman. But I'm retired. And I got up to Captain."

"Airman isn't anywhere near as sexy as private."

Alex laughed. "And yet I make do."

" _Captain_ is pretty sexy."

"You think so?"

"You're the sexiest person I've ever met."

He snorted. "Come on, have you looked in a mirror?"

"You think I'm hot?"

"Why do you sound surprised? You're very pretty."

" _You're_ pretty." Alex smiled at him, and Michael gasped like he'd just seen an angel. "You're so fucking gorgeous."

Alex patted his cheek before he kissed him carefully in the hopes of conveying just how beautiful he thought Michael was.

* * *

They only got a few more days before Cam called again. Alex knew Michael wouldn't like what he was about to tell him, so he took a deep breath and prepared himself for a conversation of unrivaled stubbornness.

He tapped his phone on his knee a moment longer before he went to find Michael in his makeshift lab. He was staring at the usual test tubes and occasionally jotting down notes.

"Guerin?"

"Mmhmm?"

"Cam just called. They got information from the spies."

That got his attention; Michael threw down his notebook and pencil and pushed the safety glasses up into his hair. "Do we get to go home?"

Alex shook his head. "They couldn't confirm the money was actually Russian. They want me to decrypt the payment source. I can't do it from here, but you have to stay until it's safe."

Michael's face fell instantly, and even though Alex knew he'd be disappointed, he hadn't expected him to look so hurt, too. "You're going to leave me here?"

"I'm _going_ to find out who's threatening you. Then I'll come back, and take you home once they're caught."

Michael stared at him, now, and Alex felt like one of the test tubes on the desk. "But what if-- what if someone comes here while you're gone?"

"No one is getting through that door," Alex told him. "And you won't be here alone. Cam said she'd come out here herself and watch over you. I'll head out when she gets here tomorrow."

"I don't want Cam," he mumbled petulantly. "I want you."

"You can have me back as soon as I break through the encryption."

Michael dropped heavily in his chair. "But what if it's a trap?"

Alex frowned. "How or why would it be a trap?"

"I don't know, I just-- I don't want to be here." He caught Alex's eye in earnest. "I don't want to be here without you. I won't be able to sleep."

He couldn't bring himself to tease him for missing him, so he swallowed that and said instead, "This is the safest way for me to protect you, deal with the threat, and get you back to the castle. It's just a couple of days. You know I'm quick."

"Yeah, but Alex," he said, a desperate edge to his voice. "I don't want you to leave at all. Why can't you do it from here?"

"I don't have the right equipment here," Alex said gently. "It won't take me long. I'll come back until they apprehend whoever is out to get you, and once they do, I'll take you home. Okay?"

"No, it's not okay," he said sharply. "I don't want you to go without me. Please don't leave me. I won't feel safe without you. Why does it have to be you?"

Alex sighed and pulled Michael up into a hug. He gladly threw his arms around him and squeezed. "I'm the most qualified person available. Even if I try to tell someone how to do it, they could do it wrong, which could tip them off, cause them to build up security, and make them harder to find, and then you'd be stuck here even longer."

"Take me with you."

"That sounds more like a trap than you staying here."

"No, no. Can't Cam just bring your equipment? Or, or put extra people on me so I can go with you? Alex, please, I have a bad feeling."

"It's not exactly portable equipment. You are safest here with me or Cam. The fewer people who know about this location, the better."

"What about you?"

"What about me?" Alex said blankly.

Michael pulled back. "Where's safest for you?"

Alex's mouth thinned. Obviously, he was safest there, as anybody would be, but that wouldn't help anyone at that point. "They threatened you, not me."

"It's here, isn't it?"

"Guerin. You want to go home, right?"

"Not without you."

Alex bumped his forehead into Michael's. After a moment, he gave him a short, chaste kiss. "Do you trust me?"

"Yeah, of course I do. I trust you to keep _me_ safe, no matter what happens to you, and I've been meaning to tell you I'm not okay with that."

Alex dropped his head to Michael's shoulder to laugh.

"It's not funny."

"I figured that out back when you pulled me to the floor with you instead of letting me return fire. But it's literally my job, Guerin, I'm your bodyguard. I get paid to protect you. Even if I didn't, I would anyway, because--" Alex hugged him tighter.

"Because?"

"Because I love you, Michael."

"Alex," he said, and he could feel him shaking. "You can't say that and then leave. I love you, too. What am I supposed to do if something happens to you, huh?"

"Why would something--" Michael watched him expectantly. "Oh my god. You think they're after both of us?"

He looked down. "None of the letters said they were _just_ after me. My name was never even mentioned."

"They were only _addressed_ to you. I am not that interesting. _You're_ the science genius prince."

"And anyone who's paying attention knows _you're_ my bodyguard. We weren't attacked until it was just us." 

"Yeah, odds are slightly better in a cheap motel with just us than at the castle with an army, as you like to say."

"And listen, you're so smart. If I'm a science genius, you're this incredible computer genius, and I don't know why you decided to be a bodyguard instead of use that." 

"Couldn't get a tech job I liked, a friend back in Roswell suggested bodyguard. This had good pay, free room and board, nice insurance, a cute boy... I can keep going," Alex said mildly.

"Those guys were going to take _your_ laptop."

"It was right in front of them. They didn't know it was mine."

"They wanted to kill _both_ of us."

"Maybe you haven't noticed, but it's actually really hard to kill you when I'm around and alive. They would have had to."

Michael pulled back to clasp Alex's hands between his own. "What if I'm right?"

"Cam will protect you while I'm gone. I can fend for myself."

He worried his bottom lip, and Alex wanted to soothe him with his own, but he waited for him to speak. "What if it's just you? What if you don't come back?"

"Nah." Alex patted his cheek with the easiest dismissal he'd ever made. "No one is that impressed with me."

"I'm pretty impressed with you."

"I don't think anyone wants to kill me for kissing you." It was a joke, an attempt to lighten the mood, but the words tasted like a lie, and Alex frowned. Maybe Michael was on to something after all. 

"Loads of murderous bigots out there."

"Yeah..." 

Alex got lost for a moment in a memory from high school, one of the many times he thought his homophobic father would finally kill him just because he was rumoured to have kissed a boy. (He actually had, but his father had no way to prove it, which he credited for his continued existence at the time.) 

Michael ran his hands down Alex's arms and returned him to the present. 

"What is it?" 

"There's actually one out there with a vendetta against me. Shit, if all this is because of him-- because of _me_ \--"

"Who?" Michael asked, trying to comfort him with touch without much success, though Alex still appreciated it.

"My father." He grimaced and pulled out his phone. As it rang, he said, "Shit, he called the castle looking for me two weeks after we left. _Shit_."

It didn't take long for Cam to answer. "Yeah?"

"Get eyes on Jesse Manes."

"Excuse me? Your dad?"

"Michael had a thought, and I think it warrants a look at him," Alex said. 

"Your dad is still Air Force. Are you sure?"

"He's more than capable of it. I'll do what I can from here. Shit, Cam, I never told him where I work, I haven't even spoken to him since before the order, practically a decade ago, he shouldn't have known where to call. Don't drive up here again, just in case. We should be able to last a while."

"No one has followed me there so far, but I won't until he's ruled out. I'm not going to say you're paranoid, Manes, I know you took out that restraining order for a reason, but it honestly sounds like a bit of a stretch."

"I know, but just look into him, please. To be safe. If there's nothing to it, I'll come decrypt."

Michael made a noise of protest. 

There was silence on the line for a moment. "Was that Guerin?"

"Yes, hi Jenna," Michael said, snatching the phone. "I want Alex with me. He's _my_ bodyguard."

Alex rolled his eyes and reached over him to put his phone on speaker. 

"Guerin. I don't expect to approve your return before the threat to you has ended."

"I want Alex. I refuse to stay here without him."

"Good lord," Cam said. The line went quiet again before she continued, "Manes, what's your take?"

He frowned and looked up at Michael's weaponized pout. His desire to keep him the hell away from his dad was stronger. "Ask me again once we've looked into my father. If it turns out that it is him, Michael stays here until he's dealt with."

"But Alex--"

"Got it, Manes. We're on it."

"Be careful."

"You too." He ended the call, and Michael wrapped his arms around him again. Alex rubbed his back. "Hey, it'll be okay."

"What'd he do to you?" 

Alex froze in his grip. He didn't even know where to begin.

Michael shook his head. "You don't have to tell me. I can tell it was bad."

"I don't... really have the words, or I would. The important thing is that he hasn't hurt me in ten years, and I won't let him anywhere near you to do the same," Alex promised. He pressed his hand to Michael's cheek. "I'll protect you."

"I know." He nodded with a sniff. "But what about you?"

"I don't need to be protected." Alex took a deep breath and attempted to calm Michael with a reassuring smile. "I joined the Air Force instead of running away because I thought it was my best chance to learn to fight back against him. Then I decided the best way to _win_ was to not engage at all, so I took out a restraining order. But if he's going to force it, I will fight, and I will win."

"Yeah. Yeah, you will, I know it. He's where your 'conditioned reaction' to Pride came from, isn't he?"

"Mostly," Alex said. "Like you said, there are loads of murderous bigots out there. Can't let him have all the credit for the shit I've internalized." 

"I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry about. You helped me regain my pride, and I'm grateful for that." He sighed. "But if it is my father who's been threatening you, _I'm_ sorry."

Michael leaned away, confusion clear in the way his brow was knit. "How's that your fault?"

"He hates me. I can't think of any other reason you'd be on his radar. He's not particularly interested in science. He _is_ a xenophobe, but it's not like you're the only foreigner in Santa Fe--"

"Okay, whoa. We don't know if it's him yet. Even if it is, it's not your fault, Alex. You didn't ask him to be shitty. What are you supposed to do, isolate yourself forever?"

"That's certainly what he'd prefer."

"Too bad. You won't be alone as long as I have anything to say about it."

Alex almost smiled at that. "If he hurts you, I will never forgive myself."

"Nah, you're gonna protect me, as always," he said easily. "You're gonna get us home safe."

"That's the plan. That's _been_ the plan."

"So far so good," Michael reminded him.

"Yeah. Hey. I'm gonna get started. You okay?" 

He nodded. "Are you?"

Alex honestly thought he might vibrate out of his skin over the anger he felt, but if he worked, it would dissipate. "I will be, yeah."

He squeezed Michael's arm and left to set up a program to quietly hound his father on a dozen different fronts. 

Later, Michael had to coax Alex away from his laptop with wontons. After they ate, he had to convince him to go to bed with the promise of epic sex. (The usual sort.)

In the morning, Cam sent a single text: "Eyes on. In city."

Which Alex didn't think boded well regardless of whether his father was the one threatening Michael or not. 

Luckily, Michael only had his arm slung across him, so Alex kissed his forehead and got up despite his grumbling. 

His program had easily broken into a few of his father's systems over night, but it was his bank Alex was most interested in, and the program was waiting for further guidance on that one. It had, at least, found that the password had never been changed. 

He rubbed his chin before he took out his phone and dialed his mother. 

"Hello?"

"Hey, Mom, it's Alex." 

"Wow, two calls in about as many weeks, must be important," she teased. "What do you need, honey?"

It was true they didn't speak much. Being left behind with a monster still stung, even if he understood that she had had no choice if she was going to get away. "Dad's bank password."

His mom laughed and told him. 

"Thank you." He typed it into the program and was instantly granted access to the records he was after. "That worked."

"I can't imagine that you're stealing, kid, but if you are, wire some to the Coalition fund, would you?"

He smiled. "I'm not, but I'll send an extra donation in his name this year, yeah?"

"Thank you, honey. Do you have to go now? Do you want to talk about whatever you're doing?"

"Just trying to determine if he hired someone to kill me and the guy I bodyguard."

She sighed. "Oh, sweetie, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if he did. Are you safe now?"

"Yeah, we're essentially off the grid." He squinted at several unlabeled transfers, plus various cash withdrawals of over a grand each. They _could_ add up to more than enough for the hit men's payments, but they went back for years and years. "Mom, did Dad have any other banks?"

"Not that I know of for sure. It's possible he opened another since I left, or he may have had a military-specific account. Actually, thinking about it, I'm pretty sure he did."

Alex continued to scroll; when he got over a decade and a half back, the transfers were labeled. "Shepherd?"

"Yeah, that's the one. When I asked about it, he said it was an emergency fund. Didn't question it. I didn't question a lot of things back then." Her voice was full of regret.

Alex set up a program to start hunting for Shepherd. "Don't worry, Mom. I got this."

"I know you do, sweetie. Do you need anything else from me?"

"Not at the moment. Thank you."

"You are welcome, Alex. Really. You can call me to talk about anything."

He frowned at his screen. "You really think Dad would kill me because I'm gay?"

"Oh, he'd dress it up as something else. This guy you're guarding, is he -- well, you know what your father hates, yeah?"

"Yeah, Mom, I know, that's why I'm looking into him." He hesitated. "His name is Michael. Since we came out here, I realized... Well, I love him, and I'll do anything to protect him."

"Aw, honey. That's so sweet. If you need any more help from me, you just let me know, okay? I'll let you get back to work."

"Yeah. Thanks again. Bye Mom."

"Bye."

* * *

Despite the ease of entry, Alex couldn't find anything within three days to definitively tie his father to Bishop, just mounds and mounds of suspicious online activity. He also, to his annoyance, couldn't crack Shepherd from his laptop. He suspected it was on a localized server somewhere in Roswell. 

Cam was having him followed everywhere: to the local base, to his local apartment, to the grocery store, but none of that was suspicious.

"We'll get a full week of tails in, but it's not looking like it's him."

"I'm not sure if I'm relieved or not, frankly."

"I know what you mean." Cam sighed. "How's Guerin?"

"He's keeping busy, between his pod project and disassembling and reassembling the car."

"Oh boy. He keeping _you_ busy?"

"Yeah, I got press ganged into deciphering Liz's notes even though I'm pretty sure I'm worse at reading them than he is."

"Right, sure, that's not what I meant." She paused. "Uh, I gotta go, Manes, take care."

"All right, bye." He set his phone down beneath the monitor and went back to work on the app, which wasn't being so stubborn as Shepherd.

Alex was drawn out of the security booth that night well past when Michael usually gathered him for a movie (or, recently, straight to bed where they could entertain themselves) by the smell of fried cheese. He checked the time; it was almost midnight. Alex went to the kitchen counter, where Michael was staring at the oven.

"Does that make them bake faster?"

He frowned deeply at the cheese sticks through the window. "I am trying to prevent cheese loss."

"Cheese loss?"

"Yeah, if you bake them too long, they explode, and I've tried to stuff the cheese back in before and trust me it just burns your fingers."

"Let's not do that," Alex said and walked around to lean on the counter beside him. "What's with the midnight snack?"

"Well, tonight's the peak viewing for the Geminids shower, so I thought a snack would be nice."

"Snacks _are_ nice." He squinted at the arranged sticks. "You're going to eat thirty cheese sticks while watching a meteor shower?"

Michael blinked and looked away from the oven window with dawning horror. "Oh, no. I've been planning this like, romantic date thing for three weeks, and I totally forgot to even ask you. Oh my god."

Alex smiled at him. "That's sweet, Guerin. Maybe you should just ask me now. I bet I'll say yes."

"Do you want to watch the meteor shower with me tonight?"

His smile turned teasing. "Nah, I'm pretty tired, it's really late."

"Dammit, I should have asked sooner, how could I forget to ask? I'm sorry, I--"

Alex interrupted Michael with a soft touch and kiss. "I'm kidding. Show me the stars, Space Cowboy."

"Just don't call me Maurice," Michael said as he hugged Alex, spinning with him slowly. 

"I can call you Betty."

They both sang the next line: " _And Betty when you call me you can call me Al!_ " 

Michael paused. "Wait, you're the bodyguard, not me."

"Yeah, but my name can be shortened to Al. And I can be your best friend."

"You are, I think, but you do not go by Al. You are not an Al."

"True." Alex shrugged. "But I'm not a Betty, either."

"And I am?"

"You just baked cheese sticks, it's very Betty Crocker."

"You're the worst," Michael said, poking him in the forehead.

"Food-eral," Alex reminded him.

"Okay, you're right, I'm the worst." He sniffed and suddenly twisted away from him. "Cheese loss!"

Alex watched him in amusement. "So you've been planning this for three weeks? As in a week longer than we've been dating?"

"Well," he began, unexploded cheese sticks placed carefully on a pot holder, where he poked at them before separating them on to two plates. "I'd been sort of working up to ask you to give us a real shot. Plan was to tell you how I feel during the Geminids, because I think meteor showers are kinda romantic? I was trying to gauge whether or not you'd be interested when you dropped the whole 'I shouldn't be your bodyguard anymore' thing on me. But now we're together, and that is amazing. You distract me, too, you know? So I forgot to ask." 

Alex listened with a distinct fondness. "You're cute."

"Alex," Michael whined, though he offered him the second plate.

"What? You are. And I _am_ interested. The only reason I tuned out when you were talking about it was because I couldn't stop thinking about how cute you are when you're excited."

"Aw," Michael said, ducking his head with a small smile. "You're really not too tired?"

"I'm not too tired to have a date with you."

"Okay, come on then."

Alex followed him out to the picnic table which they clambered up on top of, eyes trained on the sky. "Not gonna use the telescope?"

"That's just in case there's a lull, really, and there shouldn't be. There." Michael pointed a cheese stick at a streak of light. 

"Cool."

"Yeah."

They stayed upright until they finished eating; then they laid on the tabletop side-by-side. Alex pointed out the constellations he knew from long nights in the deserts of the eastern hemisphere, and Michael traced the lesser known ones. 

"Hey Alex?" he said when Alex covered a yawn as the streaks died out.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for staying up with me. I love you."

He kissed Michael's cheek. "I love you too."

"You wanna go to bed now?"

"God yeah, I'm gonna turn into a pumpkin." Alex patted his bicep before he twisted around to get up. He grimaced when his metal leg bounced off the wooden bench. "Shit."

"What?"

"Forgot my knee. Does not feel good."

"Want me to get your crutch?"

"No, no," he replied, easing himself down. "Come over here."

Michael wrapped an arm around Alex's waist and helped him inside. 

"I'll get this off," Michael said. 

"You don't have to--"

He kissed down the inside of his thigh. "Want to."

"Okay, just--" 

"You have extras of these, right?" He held up the liner. 

"Yeah, put that down, come here." 

Michael carefully put it aside and snuggled into Alex contentedly.

* * *

It took Cam a few days to confirm that there was no substantial evidence that Jesse Manes was in any way involved in their attempted murder. 

"That's good, but I can't shake the feeling that he's up to something," Alex told her over the phone. "His actions over the last few years have been erratic. Mysterious out payments, random movements around the country... What the hell is Shepherd doing?"

"I don't know, Manes, but I don't think you should treat him as a priority if it has nothing to do with us."

"But why did he call the castle?"

"Again, don't know, but don't let him get to you. Focus on Guerin."

"Right. Yeah." Alex saved the logs of his terminals before closing them all out. "Focused. Should I start looking elsewhere? Maybe Bishop again?"

"No, decrypting the payment ought to do it. I'm going to get everything ready and text you in a day or two."

"Okay."

"There is the matter of Guerin, though. He didn't want you to leave him, and you said to ask again after we ruled out your father, so what's your take, Manes?"

Alex sighed. "I think he should stay here. But he won't accept that. You know what he's like."

"I wouldn't put it past him to stow away in the trunk or make the car inoperable by stealing parts, yeah."

He remembered the few times Michael had wanted to tinker, and Alex had sat on the porch with his laptop. He could have done anything to the car without him knowing, though Alex doubted he would. At least, not unprovoked.

"For now, I'll get everything sorted. You get your brain in decryption mode or whatever, and maybe see if you can ease him into the idea of sitting tight without you."

"Will do. Bye, Cam."

"Be seeing you soon, Manes."

Alex put his phone below the monitors and began to fiddle with his app again. 

A couple hours later, Michael wandered into the security booth and kissed his cheek. "Hey there."

"Hey," Alex agreed, smiling up at him.

He grinned back and waved at the phone. "Can I call my siblings?"

"Yeah, of course. It's been a while, huh? Day before Thanksgiving?" Alex slid it toward him, and Michael sat on the desk. "You don't have to call from in here." Even if his thigh made a great arm rest.

"I want to. Wanna ask about Christmas, and the New Year Gala, and I, I want to tell them about us dating, if that's okay. Is that okay?"

Alex stiffened. When his father had found out about him-- He thought he was safe from his father back then, and he was wrong; what if he was wrong about the Evans twins, too?

"Whoa, Alex, I don't have to. I don't want to out you without your permission. Hey. Alex?"

He shook his head. There was that good old anxiety again. "Sorry?"

"It's okay if you want to wait to tell them. Or not tell them at all. I know there's stuff."

He shook his head more insistently. "Of course you can tell them. Just, they... already know you're bi, right?"

"Yeah, and Isobel is, too. Well, bi ace. We have a real bi blast. Max, unfortunately, is painfully hetero, we don't know what happened there." Michael grinned, and Alex smiled back weakly. "He doesn't really get it, but he's got the spirit."

He hesitated. "Good, I'm glad."

"They're not gonna hurt me, or you, or disown me, or fire you, or anything bad, I promise."

"I know. I know. I'm sorry I even thought it."

Michael put the phone down to take Alex's face between his hands. "You have nothing to be sorry for, and I'll say it as many times as you need to hear it. If you need-- if you _want_ a secret relationship, to be comfortable or for any reason, I'll do that. They don't have to know. It's between me and you, and I'm happy to just be with you."

Alex turned his head to kiss Michael's palm. "I don't want us to be a secret. But I appreciate that you would do that for me."

"There's not much I wouldn't do for you." Alex had no idea how he could say something like that so casually. Michael picked the phone back up as if he hadn't just bared his heart to Alex. "So, assuming we make it back before Isobel's New Year Gala, will you be my date?"

"Yeah," Alex said, finally giving him a genuine smile. "You'll need another bodyguard."

"The literal army we've got at every event isn't enough?"

"Please, Guerin. I'd feel better if someone is focusing on keeping you safe."

Michael bumped his forehead into Alex's. "Okay. We'll tell Cam to put someone else on me, then. You don't have to worry." He found Isobel's contact and tapped call. "Besides, I'm not that important, we can totally sneak away halfway through the Gala."

"The hell you will," came Isobel's sour voice over the speaker. "You're staying where I can see you the whole time."

"Oh, well, hello to you too, Iz."

"Hello, Michael." Her voice took on a tone of amusement. "Alex, too?"

"Yes. Hey, Isobel."

"Hey. So you'll be back in time for the Gala which you are under no circumstances leaving early?"

"Maybe," Alex said quickly. 

"Then what about Christmas?"

"Maybe," Michael said.

"Why are you even calling me right now? Am I supposed to pencil you in a bunch of maybes?"

"Maybe, plus one?"

Silence. Then Isobel cackled. "If that was your way of telling me that you two got your shit together, it's about time."

"What?" said Alex. 

"Neither of you are subtle. Even Max noticed you two making heart eyes at each other when the other wasn't looking."

"Oh my god."

"We have had our shit together for like a month now, okay?" Michael said. "Also, shut up."

"Oh, wow, a whole month?"

"Nearly a month."

"Hey Alex, how long you been working for us?"

"Iz!" Michael hissed.

Alex was still processing the fact that even Max, who they rarely saw at the same time, had noticed that they were into each other. Michael prodded his shoulder, and he answered, "Almost a year, why?"

"No reason. Michael, you've been in love with him for one, two, eleven months, then?"

"Shut up," he grumbled again. Alex took his free hand and squeezed, and Michael brightened. "Anyway. What are we doing for Christmas this year?"

"Group home outreach."

"Aw, man, if I don't make it, you'll tell them I wanted to be there, right?"

"Yeah, obviously, it was your idea. But can you _try_ to be here?"

Michael looked at Alex helplessly. "What exactly do you think I can try to do to get there?"

"I don't know, don't be such a little shit that people want to kill you in the future?"

"I see, it was _you_ who hired the hit men, wasn't it?"

Isobel scoffed. "If it was me you'd be dead because I wouldn't hire shit ass hit men."

"Alex wouldn't let that happen, right Alex?"

"Well, I'd do my best, but I'm sure your sister has access to highly skilled assassins."

"Although, I do have to say, getting you two alone together in a safehouse wasn't on my list of plans to get you two together by Max and Liz's wedding, but I'm glad it worked out."

"What? Why their wedding?" Alex wondered.

"We made a bet," Isobel said.

Michael groaned loudly.

"Sort of. I didn't actually want to win. Max thought Alex would be Michael's plus one to his wedding, and I said there was no way you two would notice how balls to the wall in love with each other you are. Michael, you're a cloud cuckoolander. Alex, you're all about _the job_."

"Wait," Michael said, "Was Liz in on this too?"

Because that was his main question. Meanwhile, Alex was pretty sure he was dead.

"It's cute that you think Max leaves Liz out of stuff like this. Of course she is. I especially liked her story about your story about Alex and the neighbor dog."

"What?"

"Como un perrito!"

"What?"

"You mean when I told Liz about the dog living in the barracks?"

"Earp, his name's Earp," Alex said.

"Right, yeah."

"My brother," Isobel said, "Apparently told Liz about you guys hanging out with _Earp_ with his puppy dog eyes on and then asked if she thought he should get you a puppy."

"Is that why she said he already has one!" Michael demanded.

"You wanted to get me a puppy?"

"Well, yeah, you looked so happy holding him."

"God, barf, sister still on the line, remember?"

"I'm pretty happy holding you."

"Okay, hanging up now, bye."

Michael put the phone aside and kissed Alex's forehead. "Me too."

* * *

Alex woke up early in the morning the week before Christmas to his phone buzzing. He searched blindly, unwilling to turn away from Michael to look. 

He sighed when he read the message. Cam's text said they were ready, but she wanted to know if he was bringing Guerin home or not by five that night.

"Bad news?" Michael asked from his shoulder. Alex hadn't even realized he was awake.

"Neutral news," he said carefully. "Cam is ready for me to go decrypt the payment source."

"We're going home, that's great news!"

Alex frowned. "You should stay here until whoever is after you is apprehended."

"You said if it wasn't your dad I could go, too."

"No, I said if it _was_ my dad you definitely _couldn't_."

"But Alex--"

He ducked to look Michael directly in the eyes, effectively cutting him off. "Tell you what, Michael, I'll make you a deal, and you can come along if you agree."

"Okay, what's the deal?"

"First--"

"There's more than one part?"

" _First_ , you wear the body armor at all times until the threat is dissolved."

"Even in the shower?"

Alex rolled his eyes. "Yes, Guerin. Even in the shower." He shook his head. "Can you not be cute for like a minute, please? You knew what I meant."

"I can't help what I am."

"I know, but try. This is serious." Alex patted his cheek. "Second, you do whatever I say as soon as I say it."

"I already do that."

"Even if you don't want to."

He smirked. "I always want to do what you tell me to."

"Guerin, I don't mean in a fun euphemistic way, I mean if, for instance, I say run, don't wait for me, you run and you do not wait for me."

Michael blinked rapidly. "No."

Alex awkwardly but firmly crossed his arms. "That's the deal. It's non-negotiable."

"I'm not going to leave you behind if there's trouble."

"Yes, you will, or you'll stay here with Cam, who wants to know by five whether or not she's driving up here in the morning, so you have until then to decide."

Michael hesitated only a moment before he snuggled back into Alex. "Fine, I'll do it. I'll wear the body armor, and I'll do whatever you say, even if I don't want to."

"Swear it."

He slid his hand over Alex's heart. "I swear, Alex. I won't let you down."

"Okay. I believe you." He wrapped his arms around Michael again. "We'll pack everything up today and drive home in the morning."

"Sleep longer first," he mumbled into Alex's neck. 

* * *

Michael spent most of the drive to the castle DJing mainly from the pool of songs he knew Alex liked, but also some he thought Alex ought to like. He was mostly right.

They were meandering through the city when Alex made a confused face and asked, "Who sings this?"

"Uhh, Jimmy Buffett."

He laughed in surprise. "He's nowhere near my genre."

"I know, but this one might be your style. It's Savannah Fare You Well."

"Start it over." He listened intently to the first verse and chorus. "It is sort of spooky. And sad."

"Exactly."

"Okay, I liked it," he said as it ended, "But please play something happier."

Michael did just that. 

At the end of the happier song, Alex took a deep breath and said seriously, "Michael."

He looked up at his tone wide-eyed. "Yeah?"

"Get as low as you can without undoing your seat belt."

He sunk into his seat, bizarrely calm about the instruction. He caught Alex glaring at the rearview mirror. "Being followed?" Michael guessed. 

"Guy's been tailing us since we got into the city. You know how I drive, there's absolutely no reason for him to still be behind us."

"Yeah, I know, as inefficiently as possible." He looked at the cup holders, then opened and shut the glove box. "Where's your phone? Should I call Jenna?" 

"I'll get it in a minute, it's in my pocket. I'm gonna try turning without signaling, then we'll go back the way we came. I'm just trying to find a circuit first. There. Hold on."

Alex took a sharp right followed immediately by another sharp right that had Michael and everything not nailed down careening into the door. Simultaneously, he dug out his phone and turned on location services.

"Jesus," Michael said, though he accepted the phone.

"Sorry, but I did say hold on. You all right?"

"I'm good, I'm good. Did you lose 'em?"

Alex glanced in the rearview only to see the same vehicle gaining on them rapidly. He swore and swerved into a ditch along the side of the road. Their follower screeched to a stop farther down. 

Alex put the car in park and readied his handgun.

He eyed the houses quickly. They were too far, too open, and the residents would be in danger. He even saw some peeking through their curtains. Hopefully when they saw what was about to be a standoff in the middle of the road, they'd call the police. 

"Out," he told Michael, who scrambled to do as he said. "Get under the car, stay out of sight. Call Cam, say SOS, do not speak do not hang up do not _move_." 

Alex thanked every deity he knew that Michael stuck to their deal, especially when he saw who got out of the other car over the top of his gun. 

Sometimes he hated to be right. 

The first person was his father, Chief Master Sergeant Jesse Manes. The second, given the ski mask, was Mr. Jesus Fuck, the other half of the pair who had tried to kill them at the motel. 

Alex shot out one of their back tires. They would have to commandeer another vehicle if they wanted to escape.

Mr. Jesus Fuck squawked out his namesake, but his father sighed as though he was dealing with a difficult child. The drawing of his gun was more like he was dealing with Alex. He would have attempted to shoot it out of his hand like he had with Bishop, but he didn't like the probability of a miss at that distance. Ski Mask, he noted, didn't have a weapon. 

"I really used to think you were a genius, Pops," Alex said. "This is how you're breaking the restraining order? Going after my livelihood with a glock?"

"He's using you to gather intelligence. I'm _protecting_ you."

" _You_ are pointing a gun at me. Keep your xenophobia to yourself, Dad. You're not getting out of here with your integrity intact."

Given their distance and his posture, his father was aiming for Alex's chest, the largest target. Alex wasn't worried. He would spill his guts in the same instance. The man was never one to wear bulletproof anything, as if his arrogance would somehow protect him. 

"It's too bad you're not any use alive, son," he said.

There were sirens a few blocks away, and Alex could only hope they were for them. He caught his father twitch before he could respond; they fired simultaneously. 

He had to roll away with the momentum, but he did see his bullet hit its mark and rip into his father's stomach before he tumbled to the ground. He could already feel the growing bruise over his right side. 

Alex heard Michael hiss his name and blinked the water out of his eyes before sending him a reassuring smile. "Stay there," he snapped when he saw him trying to wriggle out from under the car to get to him. Michael froze but with clear protest on his face.

He pushed himself back up, gun still trained toward his father. The other man had taken his mask off and was pressing it into his dad's stomach. 

The sirens rounded the corner, and Alex returned his gun to its holster in relief. Nonetheless, he didn't wave Michael out or fall back until the police were out of their cars.

Michael slid to his knees beside him despite the asphalt, and his hand found the crushed bullet instantly. Alex winced at the faint pressure. The adrenaline leached out of him. "I'm fine."

"I didn't say you weren't," Michael said. He held up the bullet. "You actually got shot!"

"Not the first time," Alex said with a shrug that made him wince again.

"And by your dad! What the hell! He could have killed you!"

" _Not_ the first time," he repeated dully. 

Michael turned and craned his neck at the crowd around the other car. "How much trouble would I get in if I went over and kicked him in the head?"

"A lot. Sit down, Guerin." Alex had never been more happy to hear Jenna Cameron's voice. Michael did as she said, grumbling under his breath, and he gripped Alex's hand like he intended to never let go. Cam looked them over in concern. "All right, Manes?"

He used his free hand to give her a thumbs up. "I'm good."

"I'd be more inclined to believe you if you weren't lying in the middle of the road with Guerin hovering like a helicopter." 

"He got _shot!"_ Michael said, waving the flattened bit of metal at her.

She sighed and called a paramedic over. Alex wasn't sure when a pair of ambulances had arrived, but one of them was already leaving.

"I'm not bleeding externally. I've got a vest on, I'm okay," he told the medic. He even sat up to prove it.

She frowned and opened her bag. "Where were you hit?"

He gestured at his ribs, and she poked him there without warning. " _Ow_. It's just bruised. I know what a cracked rib feels like, I would tell you if I had one."

"Would you?" Michael wondered. He'd never seen him look so worried.

"Yes. Will you please calm down, Guerin? Michael. Hey. This is _why_ I wear body armor."

"You'd be bleeding out, too, if you hadn't been," said the medic helpfully. Alex sent her a look. "Sorry." She addressed Michael. "Why don't I get you a blanket?"

"Please get him a blanket," Alex said when all Michael did was drop his head into his shoulder and breathe shakily. "I am really okay. I'm sorry you were scared. You're safe now."

"Are you safe?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I am."

The medic handed a thick yellow blanket to Alex, and he wrapped it around Michael's shoulders one-handed since he still refused to release his other hand. 

"Thank you for protecting me," Michael said, muffled by his shoulder. 

"Thank you for keeping your promise to listen to me."

Michael huffed a laugh. "I love you, Alex."

Alex patted his cheek. "I love you, too."

"Wow," Cam said, reminding them of her presence. "You two are sickeningly adorable. Sure proved me wrong in thinking so. Manes, you're taking an ambulance ride to get that bruise checked out. Workman's comp stuff. I brought backup, they'll drive your car home. Before you ask, yes, Guerin, you can ride along with him. I'll follow."

"Fine," Alex said, though he'd have preferred not to go to the hospital at all. "Gimme a hand?"

They each took an arm to help Alex up, but Michael didn't let his hand go even once they were sitting in the ambulance. Cam waved at them from the door. 

"You're sure there's no external bleeding?" asked the medic. 

Michael showed her the bullet, blood-free. 

"You keeping that as a souvenir, Guerin?" Alex wondered. 

He closed his fist around it again. "I don't know. What am I supposed to do with it?"

"Well, whenever I got shot before, I either left them in the ground or had them dug out of me and tossed in biohazard bins."

His knuckles turned white around the bullet. "How many times have you been shot at?"

"Tons. I was deployed in combat zones, Guerin. But I've only been hit a couple of times. I think that was actually the least powerful gun I've ever been shot with."

"Your tone says reassuring but your words make me want to scream."

Alex smiled and leaned into him. "On the bright side, you get to sleep in your own bed tonight," he offered.

"Hmm."

He pressed a kiss to his shoulder. "You get to see your siblings today."

"Oh, yeah," Michael said, relaxing just a fraction. "They might kill me."

"They won't kill you."

"They _will_ kill your father, given the opportunity. Good thing you don't like him."

"I do like _them_ , though, so probably best to avoid any murder." Alex sighed. "Assuming _I_ didn't already kill him."

"Punctured stomach," said the medic from across the vehicle as she rifled through her supplies. "Abdominal GSWs can have a high mortality rate, but they're survivable with quick enough treatment, and we were already on our way before he was hit."

Michael gave an unimpressed hum and wrapped his arms around Alex, who patted his wrist. There they stayed until they arrived at the hospital. 

At least by the time they got to a room Michael seemed to have relaxed, though he looked about to fight someone when they wouldn't let him along for the exam. 

Alex squeezed his hand. "It's okay."

"Come on, Guerin," Cam said. "We'll be right outside. I need to ask you some questions, anyway."

Twenty minutes later, Alex was officially diagnosed with "giant bad-ass bruise," just as he'd suspected. Outside the room he caught Michael being hugged by Max, right before he pulled Alex in, too. 

"Thank you for keeping my brother safe," Max said gruffly once he released them. 

"Of course," Alex replied. Michael grabbed his hand again. "When did you get here?"

"Couple minutes ago. Cam is gonna want you for paperwork."

He looked around. "Where'd she go?"

Max inclined his head down the hallway, where a mess of police officers stood around outside one particular door. "Said she should have capped him when she had the chance."

"He's still alive, then?"

"For now," Michael said grimly.

"I assure you he will rot one way or another."

"Can't wait," Alex said. "I'm sure the payment will lead right back to him."

They stared down the hall a moment longer before Michael tugged on his hand and said, "Can I talk to you alone for a minute?"

"Yeah, here." They went into the room Alex had just vacated. "What's up?"

The words hardly left his mouth before Michael was kissing him fiercely; Alex responded with the same sentiment. 

"It's okay. We're okay," he told him when their foreheads rested together. 

Michael nodded his agreement.

"Did you actually want to talk, or are we just hiding in here to make out?"

He took his silent press of lips as the latter which was just dandy to Alex, but moments later Michael said, "I want you to stay as my bodyguard."

Alex blinked and leaned away. "But I'm--"

"Distracted, you keep saying, but not so much so that you can't protect me. Which you did flawlessly. I already told Cam and Max."

He couldn't really argue that, seeing as Michael was still in one piece. But there was the fact that he had not wanted to let Alex out of his sight since he'd dropped. "You know there's every possibility I'd get shot again?"

Michael cringed at that suggestion. Still, he went on. "I don't want you to lose your job because of me."

"I don't want you to get hurt because I can't do my job."

"I haven't gotten hurt because you _do_ do your job. I have to sign all my injury reports, you know." 

"Are you asking me to stay because Cam made you promise not to chase me off for at least a year?"

He made a face. "It's mostly because I don't want another bodyguard. I guess if you really don't want to stay with me, Cam can find something else for you to do. But I'd be sad."

"You'd be sad?" Alex repeated.

"Inconsolable."

He pulled Michael back in. "Can't have that."

"So you'll stay?"

"Mmhm."

Michael grinned in reply and buried his head in Alex's shoulder when he smiled back.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! The specific trigger warning is as follows:  
> Jesse Manes breaks the restraining order Alex has on him and attempts to shoot him. This occurs in the narration towards the end, when Alex is driving to the castle, right after Michael plays Savannah Fare You Well. But don't worry, Alex is fine. (:  
> \---  
> You got through all that, cONGRATS I don't even know how I managed it. Somehow it's here and coherent. Hurray!  
> I will tell you I'm squicked out by like... ya know.............. sex. Never gonna write it. I imagine y'all can use your imaginations. wink wonk.  
> \---  
> I guess Michael has Isobel's permission to out her. *shrug emoji* It's really different when you're talking to other queer people though, isn't it?


	5. Three Instances of Gambling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Thrilling Conclusion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mission Status: SICK

* * *

They spent most of the day in private rooms being interrogated. Alex was just glad he didn't have to see his father again. Cam drove them back to the castle, where she insisted that Alex go to his apartment in the barracks and get some rest. "It's been a long day. I'll escort Guerin up."

He was too exhausted to argue, as was Michael, though he hugged Alex tightly before he shuffled after her. 

It had been a mere eighteen hours since they'd gotten out of bed to drive away from the safehouse, and Alex already missed sleeping with Michael. He reluctantly fell back into his old routine and his own bed by reasoning it was normal for people who were dating to sleep separately.

Alex was awakened in the middle of the night by soft knocking on his door. He ignored it at first, but the knocking continued. "What?" he called.

"Alex?"

"Guerin?" He grabbed his crutch to unlock the door for him.

Michael had his arms crossed tightly, only in sweatpants and boots. "Yeah, it's me. Sorry I woke you."

"It's okay." Alex peeked around him to the empty hallway. "Who escorted you down here?"

"No one," he said blankly. "It's the middle of the night. Can I come in? Please?"

Alex nodded and shut the door behind him, too glad he'd made it in one piece to lecture him about it. "Are you okay?"

"No, um." Michael looked to the floor as Alex sat down. "I missed you too much to sleep. I promise I tried. Do you mind sharing again?"

Alex rubbed at his face in an attempt to cover his smile. "I don't mind at all. In fact, I think I prefer it. Come here." He put his crutch back up and spread his arms, and Michael went to him immediately, kicking his shoes off as he went. "Don't you have a big, fancy bed, though?"

"Ain't no bed fancy without you in it."

"Uh-huh. Come on, then," Alex said. He gently pulled Michael over so they were laying down and kissed his forehead. "I've got you. Go to sleep."

He nodded, said, "Thank you," and went out like a light.

* * *

Alex woke Michael in the morning, as he'd taken to doing, by kissing every part of Michael he could reach until he squirmed and gasped his name. "Alex!"

"Yeah?" he asked innocently, chin on Michael's chest.

"People always say _I'm_ a little shit, but welcome to the club."

"I founded the club. Anyway, you love it."

Michael hauled him up. "Yeah I do. And you. I love you, Alex."

"Love you too, Michael."

Several hours later there was knocking again. 

"What?" Alex said politely, though he had no intention of getting out of bed yet. He had everything he wanted right there, curled up under his arm.

"Go away," Michael added. 

"Oh, good, you're both here," Cam said. "We got some information, plus there's a buttload of paperwork for you two to fill out."

Michael groaned loudly.

" _Now_?" Alex said, in full agreement with Michael's sentiment. 

"The sooner, the better, guys. Then you can get back to your... no doubt _prescribed_ bed rest."

He sighed. "Give us twenty minutes."

"Thirty!" Michael said.

"Copy that, thirty minutes, my office." She knocked once more. 

"What do we need the extra ten minutes for?"

Michael snuggled back into Alex, head on his chest but careful of his bruised ribs. "For not moving."

"Hmm, okay." Alex wound his fingers through Michael's curls and let him doze for ten more minutes. He slid his hand down his jaw when it was time. "Come on, Guerin, get up."

He did not. "I'm too comfortable. Let's just stay here forever."

"Eventually you'll get hungry."

"I'll call the kitchen like I do in the lab."

"And how would you do that?"

"I'd borrow your phone, I guess."

"Where's yours?"

"On the charger. In my room. So I would borrow your phone and call for delivery."

"Sure, but no one is going to feed you; you'd have to move then."

"You wouldn't feed me?"

Alex poked him in the cheek. "Not while you're capable of feeding yourself."

"Fine." Michael gave a dramatic sigh. "Have I told you I love you today?"

"At least twelve times." But who was counting?

"No, that's how many times I came today."

"Same difference." Alex smirked. "Though I think you may be exaggerating slightly."

"Uh-uh, I definitely love you." 

"Thirteen." He smiled and kissed him. "I love you."

Michael stretched out languidly, and Alex took the opportunity to sit up and reach for his crutch. "Nooo, let's stay here."

"We do the paperwork, we get breakfast, and we can go back to bed."

"But we're already _here_."

Alex stood. "Come on, Guerin. We'll be back before you know it."

Michael threw the sheets off. "I'm not decent," he pointed out. 

"I'm well aware," Alex replied, taking a moment to enjoy the view before he turned to his dresser. 

"Ha. No, I mean, my clothes aren't here, and if I know one thing, it's better to not show up than to be late or partially naked for a meeting with _ack_!" Michael caught a pair of jeans and a button down with his face. 

"Those should fit you," Alex said smugly.

"Just throw things at me, huh? This is a very valuable mug, I'll have you know."

"I do know." Alex leaned over to kiss him on his way to his bathroom. "Now get dressed so I can undress you later."

"You drive a hard bargain, Alex," Michael said even as he pulled the sleeves over his arms. 

"I will."

"Ooh, making me want to leave less and less."

Despite that, Michael leaned against the bathroom door fully-clothed a few minutes later as Alex finished up. Almost fully.

He flicked at his bare chest. "You missed a few buttons."

"Just giving you easier access for later."

Alex pressed a kiss to his indeed easily accessible collarbone. "I appreciate that. You ready?"

"No, but I'm sticking with you."

He offered his hand, and Michael took it.

* * *

They sat across from Jenna Cameron in her office, speechless. 

"What?" Alex said, hoping he'd misheard her.

She patiently repeated what she'd just said, her focus on Michael. "In 1997, Jesse Manes shot down what he claimed to be a bogey in New Mexican air space, but we believe it was actually the private plane you and the twins were on along with two additional civilians and a pilot."

Michael let go of Alex's hand to cover his mouth, and Alex honestly wasn't sure he should comfort him. _His_ father had caused him unimaginable pain, and he started by separating Michael and his siblings from their parents over twenty years ago. The resulting crash maimed him and traumatized him and his siblings into memory loss and mutism. 

Alex was slightly relieved that it wasn't because of him that they had been targeted initially. Some solace that was. Three months ago, Michael specifically had received threats, not the twins, so Alex was convinced it was still partly because of him.

"Did he say why he shot them down?" he asked Cam, rather than reach for Michael.

"No, he did not, but I have a hypothesis. The royal family had been on vacation in Hawaii, but the kids went home a little early to prepare for school. My guess is that he expected them all to have been on the same flight."

Alex felt rage boiling under his skin. "I'm going to kill him."

She sighed. "You already have. Despite the doctors' best efforts, his organs are failing. Apparently he's been destroying his liver for decades. He's not going to make it through the week."

Great. His brothers would love that. At least he couldn't try to kill anybody else. He glanced at Michael, who still had his mouth covered and was staring at Cam's desk. Or through it. "Michael?"

He didn't look up. "Hmm?" 

"Are you--" There was no way he was okay with what he'd just heard. "What do you need?"

Michael reclaimed his hand and squeezed tightly, which was just what Alex needed, too. Michael took a slow breath in before he looked back up to Cameron, not letting up the pressure on Alex's hand for a second.

"So he's being dishonorably discharged, which is literally the least that can be done before he dies," she said once she had their attention again.

Alex didn't say what he was thinking -- that his father deserved to suffer, that Michael and his family deserved justice -- but she nodded minutely at him just the same.

"For now, you need to write statements about this incident."

"But we told the cops everything yesterday," Michael said with a frown. 

"It's good to have a backup record," Cam said. "In case anyone wants to get cute and accuse Alex of anything but defense."

"No, they _can't_ ," Michael said, and he swapped Alex's hand for a pen. "He was shot at. He saved me!"

"I know, Guerin, it's just in case." She tapped on her notebook. "Additionally, you both need psych evals from Dr. Machado this week."

Alex merely nodded as he started his statement with when he'd noticed their tail.

"Well, I already have a video appointment for--"

"It has to be in person, Guerin."

"Fine, fine, I'll walk _all_ the way over here..."

Cam raised an eyebrow. "Like you're not going to be over here already, super-glued to Alex?"

Alex smiled to himself but said nothing.

"That's still three whole doors down and around the corner."

"Oh, the humanity."

"Can we go together?" Alex asked Michael, who nodded, but he still felt he had to explain. "I haven't seen a therapist since I got out of rehab for my leg."

"I'm pretty sure you have to be separate for the psych eval," Cam said.

"Just to meet her."

"I'll go with you," Michael said. "Oriana is chill. Maybe we can even see her today."

"Yeah, then I can't psych myself out," Alex said dryly.

"Great, that's settled," Cam said. The pair passed their statements to her. "What else... Oh, do you still want to go overseas this year to visit your parents, Guerin?"

"I want to, but," he said slowly, "The year is pretty much over and I'm exhausted. They're coming for Max and Liz's wedding in the spring. I'll go twice next year, in August or something."

She squinted at him before she said, "Okay. Hmm, worker's comp papers for Alex. Guerin, do you seriously want to press charges?"

"Uh, yeah, especially now that I know I was separated from my parents for over a decade because of him!" He paused and pointed his pen at Alex. "Wait, are you in his will?"

Alex laughed. "Good one. No. I imagine I was written out not long after I got the restraining order."

"Then yeah I think we should sue his dick off for pain and suffering." Michael huffed and leaned back in his chair. By the time Cam laid the proper paperwork out, he said, "But, you know, I'm glad I get to know you guys. I probably never would've even met you two if we'd made it back."

Alex squeezed his shoulder. "Nonetheless, I say bleed him dry. Maybe leave some for my brothers. I'm sure they won't be too pleased I shot him, but they'll be less pleased that he shot me."

Michael nodded, then waved to himself. "See, Jenna, I'm an upstanding, law-abiding citizen compared to that guy."

"Only ever in comparison." She flipped through more files. "Okay. Finish those up and I'll let you go for now. Guerin, Liz asked me to tell you she misses you in the lab."

"Well you can tell her it's way more fun to shack up with Alex--"

"I'm not your messenger, twerp. Tell her yourself."

"But you just said she told you to tell me, and I'm incredibly charming."

"No, she _asked_. Nicely. Plus Liz is much prettier than you."

Michael gasped. "Take that back."

"She has a point," Alex said absently. "Liz usually asks nicely for things."

"Alex!"

"Hmm?"

"I'm prettier than Liz, aren't I?"

"I mean, I'm very gay, so in my opinion, yes."

Michael huffed and held out his hand for Alex's phone. "Isobel will break the tie."

"Isn't she ace?" he asked even as he handed it over.

"And your sister?"

"Yeah so she'll be objective." He put the call on speaker. "Izzy! Who's prettier, me or Liz?"

"What? I don't know. Why are you even bothering? Alex is the prettiest person in the embassy."

"That's fair," Jenna said with a nod.

"Oh my god," Alex said. 

" _Obviously_ , I know that, everyone knows that, that's why I was asking between me and Liz!"

"What do you mean everyone--"

"Eh, you two are a toss up. I guess I like your face more, but I've had to look at it much longer."

"Good enough for me, thanks Iz," Michael said, and hung up to smirk at Cameron.

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'm still not your messenger. Just text her."

He returned Alex's phone. "My phone's upstairs."

Alex swiped a message to Liz before he stuffed his phone back in his pocket. "Come on, Michael, let's get breakfast. See you later, Cam."

"Yes to food! Bye Jenna."

"Uh-huh. Have fun."

Michael attached himself to Alex's arm, and they ambled down the hall. "What do you feel like? I think I want an omelette with all the cheese."

"Eggs with all the cheese, definitely. Maybe a bagel sandwich."

"Ooh, yeah. An omelette on a bagel with all the cheese."

"Great, they can get some of the cheese from you."

Michael dropped his head to Alex's shoulder. "You're calling me cheesy."

"In the nicest possible way." He turned and kissed the top of his head. "So everyone knows I'm the prettiest person here?"

"Usually it's most good looking, but yeah, Alex, everyone's got functioning eyes. I think you made like ninety percent of the guards question their sexualities." They stood in line in the cafeteria, something Michael didn't normally have the patience for... unless he had Alex for company. Michael reached up to Alex's hair. "Even if you do this awful center part. You're fooling no one."

Alex let him mess up the part. "Now I can't see because my hair is in my eyes."

"That's too bad because you look hot as hell."

Alex snorted and pushed his hair out of his face. " _You're_ hot as hell."

"We're all hot as hell," came from behind them, where Liz and her five guards had joined the line. 

"Liz!" Michael released Alex's arm to hug Liz and lift her off the ground. "Your notes were illegible, by the way."

"Yeah, and half of them seemed to be in Spanish."

"Ah, that was the secret half," she replied. 

"I know Max has said this a dozen times, but this is New Mexico, we all understand Spanish, you just have chicken scratch handwriting."

"You're one to talk." She shrugged, then she grinned at Alex. "Maybe you didn't like my notes, but I know you liked what I sent along with the microscope."

Alex felt his neck heat up. "Yeah. Um, thanks."

Michael reclaimed Alex's shoulders. He and Liz started to talk science which quickly went over his head. High School chemistry a decade ago was not enough to keep up. He was more than content to lean against Michael. 

Liz's guards gathered opposite him. "We missed you, Manes."

"No we didn't."

" _You_ didn't because while he wasn't here wiping us out in cards, you were winning."

Alex smiled at them. "I did miss taking home a pound of change five days a week. I mean, and you guys, too."

One of them nodded at Michael, the very picture of an octopus the way he hung off of Alex. "So you two are an item finally?"

"What gave it away?" he asked dryly; he chose to ignore the word "finally." Especially since he didn't actually disagree. 

"Well, good for you, Manes, you both look really happy."

"Yeah, like you just cleaned us out. Happier, even."

Michael leaned up and kissed his cheek. Liz was ordering her lunch. "I didn't know you were a card shark."

Alex reached up his neck to snake his fingers through his hair. "I'm just really lucky."

"And good at bluffing."

"And strategic betting."

Liz finished ordering, so Michael waved the other guards ahead of them. "I think I'm the lucky one, actually."

"Look who's talking. Come here." Alex pulled him in by his half-buttoned shirt for a kiss. 

They broke apart at the sound of a whistle only to see Liz smiling at them with a plate of pancakes in hand. "You guys are adorable, but I assume you're in line because you're hungry."

"Oh yeah," Michael said, like he forgot. He turned an apologetic smile on the chef behind the counter once they awkwardly shuffled to face her. (Michael still refused to let Alex go.) "We want egg and cheese bagel sandwiches, please."

"Liz's pancakes smelled really good, too."

"Yeah," Michael agreed. "Some churro pancakes too, please."

The chef smiled at them and went to work on their sandwiches even as she called for more pancakes over her shoulder. 

It didn't take long for them to join Liz and her guards at a large table. She was a third of the way through her brunch, but she paused to watch them get situated as close together as the chairs would allow. 

"Talk about attached at the hip."

"He got shot yesterday," Michael said as if that was explanation enough. Alex only shrugged. He was enjoying the closeness.

"It's surprisingly sweet that you've decided to be his human crutch while he recovers."

Alex was pretty sure he was supporting Michael more than the other way around, but his mouth was too full of pancakes to correct her statement. 

"I am very sweet. None of you ever believed me, but I am. Right Alex?"

He raised an eyebrow and continued to chew. 

"Take your time. It's a very important confirmation."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Yes, you are." When he finally looked at Liz, he had to smile at her as she attempted to hide her laugh. "What?" he asked.

"I just love you two for each other. I can't even describe it. Ugh. And I still think you should be our test parents--"

"Liz shut up oh my god," Michael said immediately. "It's freaking weird."

"What?"

"She wants to combine our DNA to make a fetus."

Alex snorted. "Thought you guys were still way off test tube babies."

"We are," Liz said quickly. "Which means you have plenty of time to consider it!"

He shrugged. "You realize we just started dating last month, right?"

"Feels like it's been a year," she replied. "Especially since half the time Michael's in the lab he's waxing poetic about you. Max didn't get _all_ the literature genes."

"Oh, really?" Alex raised his eyebrow and looked to his boyfriend, only to see Michael hiding his face in his shoulder.

"Will you tell Liz to shut up," he mumbled, bright red. 

Alex looked back to Liz. "What'd he say?"

She grinned. "Oh, I don't think I could do his little poems justice. I just don't have the same tour de force, especially for the raunchy ones."

Michael let out a choked-off squeak. He whispered across the table, "Dishonor on you, dishonor on your cow, I am never speaking to you again."

She only winked in return.

"I'm interested," Alex said, and Michael looked up sharply. "Did you write them down?"

"Maybe." He huffed. "You really want to hear bad poetry about you?"

"Only if it's coming from you."

"They're on the notepad on my phone," he said finally. "I'll get it later." 

Alex squeezed his shoulder.

"Will you be joining me in the lab later?" Liz asked over the clinking of her and her guards stacking their empty plates all together. 

"Nah, not today." Michael threw his arms around Alex's shoulders, and Alex patted his elbow. "Yesterday was a lot. Maybe tomorrow. I do want to get started on the pod structures."

"We're not calling them pods," Liz said. 

"I'm making them, I'll call them whatever I want," Michael retorted. 

Meanwhile, Alex texted Cam to get Dr. Machado's number and set up an appointment. He was quickly able to start a text conversation with her, and she insisted he call her Oriana. She had a few hours she could block off for them in the afternoon, which Alex agreed to. 

Liz made everyone hand over their dishes so that she could take them to the back (mainly as an excuse to see her dad), so Michael and Alex were alone again.

"I texted Oriana and got us an appointment this afternoon," Alex told him. "We have about two hours till then."

"She's gonna be so proud of me," Michael said. 

"Why's that?" he asked, leading him to the elevator. He pushed the button for Michael's floor. 

"Uh, 'cause I didn't run you off, and 'cause I'm not constantly panicking about the fact that you got shot."

Alex looked down at where Michael was attached to his arm. "Well, you didn't run me off."

"I wasn't trying to, honest. I mean, I only _tried_ to run off two of them." He stepped out of the elevator alongside Alex and frowned. "Why are we here?"

"To get your phone? Kill two hours?"

"You just want to get into my bed," Michael said as he opened his door. 

"Actually I want to hear your poems, but I'll take either."

"I was hoping you'd forget about those." He picked up his phone and flopped onto his sea of a bed, then scooted so Alex could join him. Michael cleared his throat. "Here's one of the first ones I wrote down. A haiku to Alex Manes. I think you're gorgeous/ A badass and very kind/ It's not even fair."

Alex laughed. "That's very sweet."

"I've got loads, look." He held up his phone and flicked the screen, and it scrolled for a good moment. "Think Max would call you my muse or something sappy like that."

"Wow, how long have you been writing these?"

"How long have you been working here again?"

Alex bumped his shoulder into Michael's. "Seriously?"

"Well, I didn't get the really romantic brain rot until Pride. And then last month, for some reason, the poems got really dirty? In fact I don't think you should look at those."

Alex swiped across the screen to get to the bottom and read the latest prose there passively. 

" _Alex_ ," Michael whined. 

He read it again with a growing smirk. "We can totally do a couple of these in the next two hours."

"I-I was just--"

Alex cut his stammering off. "Do you want to? Otherwise I'll just keep reading these. Maybe I'll take some notes."

"No, no, I definitely want to if you want to," Michael said, and he tossed his phone toward the foot of his bed to have both hands free to kiss Alex. 

Somehow, they got back to the barracks in time for their appointments. Alex buttoned up Michael's shirt an extra button before they went in together so Michael could introduce him. 

Then Alex waited outside for an hour while they talked. He texted his friends back in Roswell, and he texted Jenna, and he snooped the devices on the local WiFi until Michael came out. 

He hardly stood up before Michael hugged him tightly. He patted his back. "Come on, my turn. You can go sleep in my room if you want."

"Maybe," Michael replied, looking down the hall. "Have a nice session."

"Thanks," Alex said dryly. He'd seen more than a few therapists in his time, and he was old hat. "See you in a bit."

* * *

Alex left Dr. Machado's office without an ounce of weariness to find Michael had waited for him outside. "She _is_ good," Alex said, impressed.

"Years of practice examining my psyche. Also she's literally got a doctorate in psychiatry." Michael turned into a koala again. "Can we go back to bed now?"

"Yes. Are you okay, though?" Alex wondered.

"Me? Yeah, why?"

"Okay, good. Just, and I don't mean this in a bad way, but you're really clingy today. I don't mind," Alex said hastily when Michael started to pull away. "As long as you're okay."

" _I'm_ okay. _You_ were shot yesterday, Alex. I know it's not a big deal to you, but it is to me, so I need to make sure you're..." He shook his head. "Well, I wanted to stay in bed all day, you know."

"I know. How about we get some dinner for later? Then we can stay in bed till tomorrow."

"Long as I can keep being your arm candy," Michael said gruffly. 

"Apparently it's the other way around," Alex teased. 

They got a small pizza and shoved it in the mini fridge in Alex's room before doing exactly as Alex promised.

* * *

"I don't want to return to society," Michael said as Alex got dressed in the morning. 

"You don't want to see your siblings or Liz?"

"I _have_ seen them, I'm good for like a couple days. Obviously I can last a month without seeing them."

"Uh-huh. You kinda had a fit two weeks in, Michael."

He sniffed importantly. "I didn't have a _fit_."

"No? A freak-out?"

He sat up and pointed at Alex. "A very minor freak-out that you easily calmed so clearly it wasn't that big of a deal."

"I mean, I'm a professional babysitter," Alex replied. 

Michael huffed and fell back into the pillows, arms crossed, but he made no effort to deny it. 

"Besides, it was easy to figure out how to calm you down."

"Yeah?"

Alex settled beside him and combed his fingers through Michael's curls, amused when he chased his hand like a cat. Michael groaned when he pulled away. Alex kissed him shortly. "You wanted to work on the pod structures today."

He heaved a sigh and started putting on his clothes as slowly as possible. "You won't go anywhere?"

"I will be right outside the lab as always," Alex assured him. 

"Okay."

They ate what was left of the pizza they had for dinner before they headed up to the lab.

Alex squeezed his shoulder. "I'll be here."

He nodded and kissed him, only breaking away when the other guards started whistling. 

"Think it's my turn to wall-sit," Alex said when the door closed. 

"If you're up to it," one of them said, shuffling the deck of cards. "You _did_ get shot the other day."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm fine."

"Then let's swap after lunch," said another. 

Alex nodded and waved the man next to the elevator out of his spot.

The rest of the work day passed relatively normally, though Isobel came to visit after lunch with a small box in hand. She pulled her hair back in a knot before entering the lab. 

Alex and the others caught up with her guard while they waited. It was a short visit; Isobel left the lab just five minutes later. She winked at Alex, then said, "All right, let's go back down."

It was only a couple hours after that that Michael exited the lab, arms crossed, though he smiled as soon as he saw Alex. 

"Hey, you ready?"

He nodded. Alex waved goodbye to the guys and followed Michael as he stalked into the elevator.

"Are we going to the cafeteria?" Alex wondered when Michael pressed the button for the first floor instead of his. 

"Going to bed," he said with a huff. 

Alex guessed the pod prototype build wasn't going so well. "In my room?"

"If that's still okay."

"Of course it is, I just thought it'd be easier to go to yours from here."

"Well, maybe, but all your stuff is in your room, and your room is easier to get around." He looked up to the ceiling. "For now."

"For now?"

"I asked Max to find the contractor who did your room to get mine up to your standard. They did the bare minimum required by law here, which, of course, is nothing to write home about. I want you to sleep over and not have to worry about that stuff. They started working this morning, so it's dusty and we can't use the shower yet."

Alex smiled at him. "Guess we'll just have to use mine."

"If you insist," Michael said, pulling him in for a kiss. 

Alex found his way to his neck and felt a chain under his shirt. That was new. He'd never worn jewelry before. "Mmm, what's this?"

"Oh yeah," Michael said and pulled it out to show him. "Izzy helped me get this made super quick. I gave it to her when we got back."

There was the crushed bullet that hit Alex two days prior as a pendant on the end, and he couldn't help but laugh as they stepped out of the elevator. "You kept it? Why?"

"Because it reminds me that you're a badass motherfucker who won't be stopped by a little bullet."

"You're so weird," Alex said fondly. 

He dropped it back down his shirt. "Yeah, but right now it's keeping me from getting annoyed that you're always wearing that vest."

"The vest annoys you?"

" _Yes_. How am I supposed to get my hands under your shirt when there's a half inch of Kevlar strapped to your chest? I wanna touch you."

"Whoa," Isobel said, as she'd just arrived to get on the elevator. "Please don't do that where I have to watch."

"Izzy!" Michael threw his arms around her and hugged her. "I missed you."

She patted his back, rolling her eyes at Alex over his shoulder. "You saw me the night you got back. And earlier today."

"I still miss you from before."

"Hmm. Alex, get in on this," she said imperiously, and she beckoned him to join their hug.

He did and let his eyes slide close at the warmth of the two of them. 

"Okay, we're done," Isobel said, and she shooed them along. "You're both coming up for brunch tomorrow, got it?"

Alex nodded. "What time?"

"Ten."

Michael made a face. "You're just being mean to me now."

She merely waved and got on the elevator. 

"I thought the whole point of being royalty was that I can wake up when I want."

"Well, you _want_ to see your sister and not have her mad at you tomorrow, right?"

"Of course. I would just prefer to wake up later for it. Especially since I've gotten used to making out with you in the morning before we get up, which means I have to wake up earlier to compensate. Not that I need to compensate for anything."

Alex only smirked at that remark. "Not a bad wake up call, if I do say so myself." 

"The best, actually. You know how to wake me up _and_ tire me out," Michael said, leaning into Alex as they walked the halls of the barracks arm in arm. "You are a truly talented man."

"Thank you. You're quite talented as well."

"Thanks, but right now I'm just tired."

"You're not hungry?"

"Right now I'm just hungry and tired."

They stopped in the cafeteria, then headed for Alex's bed. 

* * *

"I want to do something else before working today," Michael said. 

Alex propped himself up on an elbow. "Like what?"

He turned with a frown. "You said you would flip me all I want when we got back."

Alex blinked at him, poked his jaw. "I have been."

"No, no, like for real! You said sparring gear and mats in the gym."

"Oh." Alex sighed. "Are you sure you want that? It's really not that fun to be on the receiving end regardless of gear."

"Just once, please, I'll never ask again."

He snorted. "I'll hold you to that."

"Hold me to whatever you want," Michael replied. He tangled their legs together in an effort to get as close to Alex as he could.

It took them a while to untangle, but the mats were free when they got to the gym. Alex found them some gear and helped Michael get everything on properly. Then he handed him a brand new mouth guard. 

"I don't need a retainer," he complained. 

"It's a mouth guard, and I'll also be wearing one."

Michael just grimaced at the thing, so Alex got his out of his bag and put it in. "See?"

"Fine." He proceeded to slur every word he said. "Does this thing really protect your teeth?"

"Yes," Alex said around his. He got in his gear about three times faster than Michael did without help. "Are you _sure_ about this?"

"Yes!" He jumped up and down a few times. "Put my ass on the floor, Alex!"

"You should wear the mouth guard all the time," he replied, trying very hard not to laugh. 

"Alex, if you don't stop laughing and flip me I'm gonna taunt you or something."

He shook his head and leaned toward Michael, slipping into stance easily, which only seemed to excite Michael further. "Pay attention because I'm only doing this once."

Michael nodded, but it was still all too easy to lunge at him and do exactly as he'd asked. Alex did his best to make sure he landed on his shoulder blades rather than his head or neck, and though he really did knock the air out of him, Michael was laughing as soon as he could breathe again. 

Alex straddled him to make sure he was okay. "Are you good? Can you feel your legs?"

"You are so freaking awesome."

"Thank you, now answer the questions."

"I'm great. I can feel my legs. You really won't do that again?"

"Definitely not," Alex said, leaning back. "Well, maybe tonight."

Michael laughed again and looked up at Alex fondly. "Oh, you know what, actually, my eye feels weird."

"What?"

"Does it look weird?"

"No?"

"Look closer."

Alex moved up his body and bent over his face. Michael leaned up to kiss him, but unfortunately bounced off of his headgear. Alex snorted. "Dork."

"Yeah yeah let me up so I can take it off and kiss you."

He thought about it. "No."

"No?"

"Use what I taught you and get me off."

"I can get you off--"

Alex pressed his palms just below Michael's elbows. "Can you really?"

"Yeah, I remember how." He squirmed beneath him for a moment.

"I'm waiting. I can sit on you all day."

"Or, if you just let me up, you could sit on my _face_ \--"

Alex just quirked an eyebrow and pressed a little harder on his forearms.

"Okay, okay, hold on."

"That's the idea, Michael."

"You know, it's really hard to think when I'm turned on and you're sitting on me," he said crossly. 

"It's well within the realm of possibility that someone attractive attacks you."

"I'm not attracted to people who attack me," Michael said with a sniff. 

Alex released one of his arms to indicate their current position, but Michael used the opportunity to get some leverage and push Alex off of him. "Good job!"

He grinned in return, but he had to roll away when Alex tried to pin him again. 

They spent another fifteen minutes essentially playing tag until Alex stopped for a water break. 

Jenna Cameron walked by with a clipboard in hand and a towel around her neck just then.

"Jenna! Jenna!" Michael spat out his mouth guard. "Jenna!"

"Hey twerp." Cam didn't bother to look up at them. "I scheduled you guys for the mats on Christmas Eve."

"In two days? We're here right now."

She waved at Alex vaguely. "Not him. You and your brother."

Michael lit up. Even in his sparring gear, Alex thought he was adorable. He passed him a water bottle, and Michael promptly chugged half of it. "I'm gonna kick his ass." He popped his mouth guard back in. Cam merely gave a half wave before she wandered off. "Enough with defending myself, how do I kick his ass?"

Alex rolled his eyes. "You would know your brother's weaknesses better than me."

"What? You've seen him. C'mon, Captain Alex, how would you beat his ass?"

"Oh my god," he mumbled. 

"You're like Batman, you have a strategy for every situation, like in case Max attacks me or something, right?"

Alex blinked at him. "You're asking me if I've thought about how I would disable your brother? The crown prince? Who pays me?"

"No. I know you have. Contingencies, Alex. I'm asking _how_."

He sighed. "I mean, the best bet with anyone is to take them by surprise, which is difficult when you have a scheduled fight. But I think Max has a tendency to get in his own head, so there may be similar chances."

"He's definitely in his own head, why do you think I want to flip his ass?"

"Because, and I say this in the fondest and most loving way, you're a little shit who insists on making me worry."

"Aw, c'mon, Alex, I'm like Tinkerbell, you gotta believe in me or I'll die."

"You have way better hair than Tinkerbell, and Max is not going to kill you. Cam and I will be here watching, plus Max's guard. We won't let either of you get hurt."

"Will you at least clap for me when it looks bad so I know you believe?"

Alex sarcastically thumped the cushioned gear on his hands together twice before he put Michael in a headlock. 

* * *

"I don't see how this is going to help either of us get better," Max said, reluctantly putting on the sparring gear Cam had shoved at him as Michael bounced up and down on the mats impatiently.

"Oh, it won't," she assured him. "But it'll do wonders for the rest of us."

Not only were Alex and Cam and Max's guard on the sidelines, but Liz and Isobel and their guards were also crowded in the gym.

Isobel seemed to be taking bets on the downlow, and Alex patted Michael's shoulder before he made his way over to her to ask for the odds. 

"Well, Max has been taking classes for ages, so it's in his favor. Personally I've got money on them knocking each other out."

Alex hummed. "For their first official fight, I'll bet on Michael."

"He is pretty scrappy," Liz said thoughtfully. 

"You gonna bet against your fiance, Ortecho?" Isobel asked.

"Uh, yes. Mikey is fighting for Alex's love, and Max clearly has no idea what's going on."

"Back up," said Alex. "You call him Mikey?"

"He acts like he hates it but I know he secretly enjoys it," she said nonchalantly. 

"Okay." He shook his head slowly. "And you think he's... fighting for my love?"

" _With_ your love? Like on his side? Whatever." Liz tapped on her chin. "He's super hyped, look."

Alex looked back to the mats, and Michael waved at him, so he sent a thumbs up back. Max was still adjusting straps and griping about it to Cam. 

"You two are the cutest."

He rolled his eyes and pulled out his wallet. "Great, you guys can pay for our next date. Put this on Michael." He handed Isobel a twenty. She smiled and added him to her notebook and the money to a pile of cash.

Alex rejoined Cam at the front when Max was finally satisfied with his sparring gear. 

"You two ready?"

"Hell yeah!" Michael said. 

Max only sighed loudly and raised his fists. 

Cam switched her phone camera to video and hit record. "Okay, start then."

"Why are you rec--"

Michael full-body tackled his brother to the floor. 

"You're doing amazing, sweetie," Alex called as the two struggled on the mats.

"Thanks," Michael replied, and he and Max both got back up.

Max eyed him more warily and began to focus his attack on Michael's left side, well aware of his hand. For what it was worth, Michael didn't let him connect, he just kept backing away and pivoting until he was in a spot he liked. 

Then he went for the money and ducked Max's next punch. Michael grabbed him around the middle and managed a half turn that put Max on his back and knocked the air out of him just like Alex had done two days prior.

Michael turned to grin excitedly at Alex through his mouth guard: "I did it!" 

"Pay attention!"

Too late. Max used his distraction to kick Michael's legs out from under him. He landed beside him with an _oof_ , but Max continued to lay on the ground, unmoving aside from pushing halfheartedly at his brother's head protector.

Cam chuckled and ended her recording. "Well done. I think that's enough for today."

"Did I win?" Michael wondered.

Alex pulled him up; at the same time, Liz helped Max up and brushed off his back. 

"This time," said Max, and he gave Michael a hard pat on the shoulder. "Next time I'll be ready."

"Oh, you want me to kick your ass again in the future?"

Max merely shook his head, so Michael threw his arms around Alex.

"I love your face."

"I love _your_ face."

Isobel tapped on his shoulder and handed him a pair of twenty dollar bills, which he pocketed with smug thanks despite Michael's refusal to release him.

"What was that for?"

"Your boyfriend bet on you," she said simply. "Come up for brunch tomorrow, then we'll do the outreach. Eleven o'clock. Don't be late."

"Got it," Alex confirmed.

"Aww, you bet on me?"

"Yes, Tinkerbell. Where do you want to go for a celebratory dinner?"

With Alex's assistance, Michael began to remove his sparring gear. "Somewhere with milkshakes."

"Want to narrow it down a little?"

Michael tapped on his chin. "Oh, let's go to Steak n Shake."

"It can be a little fancier, ya know." Alex fixed his hair where the cushioned helmet squashed his curls. 

"But it was our first date."

"We just happened to stop there. Our first date was at the safehouse, during the Geminids, which you forgot to ask me out to," Alex reminded him.

"Well I can't just summon a meteor shower now," he grumbled. "That would be so cool though."

"Yes it would. You really want to go to Steak n Shake?"

Michael bumped their shoulders together. "Like I said, Alex, the only fancy place I'm interested in is where you are."

"All right, Steak n Shake it is," he said, pulling him in for a quick kiss. 

"And I want you to dip your fries in my milkshake--"

Alex pushed his face away, barely containing a laugh at that horrible euphemism. "You're lucky your gear is off or you'd be on the floor right now."

"Promise?"

He grappled him in a bear hug. "Yeah, come on."

* * *

Christmas Brunch was nearly the same as usual, except that it took place in the cafeteria and the whole family this side of the ocean was there -- the royal siblings, the Evans parents, Liz, Arturo, Jenna and her sister Charlie, all the guards and their families, and all the kitchen staff and theirs. 

It was the first event where Alex wasn't standing around with the other guards, but right next to Michael, holding his hand under the table as Michael and Liz tried to convince Jenna's sister to join in their research. 

It was after one in the afternoon by the time they were all finished cleaning up.

"So, this group home," Alex began. 

Michael straightened up from where he was stacking clean dishes. "I lived there for a couple months. It was the best one, run by people who actually care. We fund it now so there's always good food and medical access."

Alex nodded. "You like visiting?"

"I like to bring presents, and the kids are real nice, you know? I tried visiting more often at first, but then I wanted to bring the kids home..." He snorted. "It's for the best. I'm not really a great father figure."

"Nah," Alex said. "You'd be a good dad. Who told you that?"

"At the time I was only like seven years older than most of them, so I told me that," Michael said with a small laugh. "You really think I'd be a good dad?"

"I mean, my standards _are_ pretty low. You wouldn't shoot your kid, right?"

He made a face. "I hate your dad."

"And a happy New Year!" Alex held out his hand for Michael's. "Let's go deliver some presents."

Michael hastily dried his hands on his pants to take Alex's.

Isobel cornered Alex at the group home while Michael was busy handing out gifts. "Your heart eyes are more heart than eyes at this point," she observed. 

Michael looked up at them and gave a soft smile which Alex returned. 

"Oh my god, and _he's_ like if the heart eyes emoji and the cowboy emoji had a baby."

Alex laughed. "Yeah, I love him."

"Good, because I'd really hate to have to kill you for breaking his heart."

"Jesus, Isobel," he said warily, laughter gone.

"No, I would hate every second of it, honestly!" She smiled at him sincerely. "It's not personal. I wouldn't kill my brother for you, but I would kick his ass, at least."

"You're amazing, you know."

"I do know." She leaned back. "Also, since you're coming to the New Year Gala as Michael's date, there's a slightly fancier dress code. Not to worry, I've got tailors coming tomorrow for Liz and I, they can fit you in too."

"Oh, uh. Okay."

" _Do_ please make sure Michael is at the gala for at least a couple hours, on time. If you _must_ leave in the middle, be subtle."

"Didn't you already tell him not to do that?"

Isobel gave him an unimpressed look. "He hates long parties, and New Year's is the longest one. There's no way he's staying downstairs till midnight whether I tell him to or not. He _is_ important, but I don't mind him slipping out of the party if you're with him."

"Noted."

"That said, try to keep him there as long as possible, please."

"I'll try," Alex said. 

Michael slid into the chair beside him then and kissed his cheek. "Whatcha talking about?"

"The New Year's Gala." Isobel dropped off her chair and jabbed a finger at Michael. "I will find you on the day of. You will not be late."

"She's threatening me," he told Alex, who shrugged.

She narrowed her eyes at Michael. 

"All right, all right, I'll be in my room where you can find me."

"Good." She joined Max and Liz and a group of kids fawning over his book picks for the new year. 

"I kind of love your sister."

"I can't think of a more horrifying alliance, actually. Your combined sarcasm will be lethal."

"Mmm, I'm sure you'll be spared," Alex said, pulling Michael in close. 

* * *

Alex knocked on Michael's door, then he tugged at the collar of his all-black suit. He hadn't missed tight collars in the slightest. Still, he smiled when Michael opened the door. He still looked damn good in his suit. "Hey."

"Fuck me," he replied, staring shamelessly. "I mean, hey."

Alex laughed. "Are you ready?"

"I feel more severely underdressed than I ever have in my life, and I was ignoring Izzy in my jeans before she made me get dressed," Michael said. He poked Alex in the shoulder. "God, man, I knew you were gorgeous, but tonight you're like, ethereal. That eyeliner could kill a man. Is that what this is? Am I dead? Are you taking me to the afterlife?"

Michael could really make him giggle like he was a teenager. "Laying it on kinda thick, don't you think? She said I had to be fancier."

"Ugh, I don't even want to go down there. Especially when you look like this. People will be falling over themselves-- Come in for a minute," Michael said, opening the door wider to usher Alex in. As soon as he was inside, Michael pressed him against the wall to kiss him.

"So you like the suit?" Alex said breathlessly a few minutes later. "The eyeliner?"

"Of course. I like _you_." Michael nosed down his neck. "I love you."

"I love you, too." He smoothed over the collar he'd mussed up as Michael did the same for him. "But Isobel might kill us if we don't show."

"She'll kill _me_ , you mean. She loves you."

"I wouldn't let her kill you."

"I know." Michael squeezed his middle. "Okay, I'm ready."

"Oh, wait."

"Hm?"

Alex kissed him once more before tangling their hands together to escort him downstairs. 

He didn't actually have to try too hard to get Michael to stay for a few hours like Isobel had wanted. They danced and talked to people (including Liz's sister, who had apparently been wandering Europe for the last eighteen months) and ate probably twenty cupcakes between them. 

Two and a half hours after arriving on time, the band played a slow song, so Alex and Michael swayed mostly in place, forehead to forehead.

About halfway through the song, Michael asked, "Would you, uh, would you wanna move in with me?"

Alex raised an eyebrow but didn't look up. "I would. Are you asking me to?"

"It's not too fast, right? If I am?"

"We lived together in the safehouse for two months," Alex pointed out. "Just ask me."

"Will you move in with me?"

"Yes."

"Cool." Michael grinned, then looked around surreptitiously. Alex couldn't help but mirror him.

"What? You see something?"

"Checking for Isobel." Alex spotted her chatting with Rosa, and Michael followed his line of sight; he tugged on his arm as soon as he saw. "She's distracted, come on." 

He didn't even bother trying to keep him there. "Where are we going? It's not even eleven yet."

"I told you we'd sneak off, like a couple of kids at prom, didn't I?"

"I got into a fight at my prom."

Michael gasped as they sidestepped out of the ballroom. "Me too! What was yours about?"

"Teenagers are homophobic assholes. Yours?" They got into the elevator, and Michael pressed the button for the penthouse.

"Teenagers are also biphobic, polyphobic assholes. For some reason people used to think I was dating Isobel, and then when it got out I was bi, they thought I was dating both my siblings simultaneously? I guess 'cause people didn't realize we were related and also confused bi with poly. When I pointed that out it was all, ew, incest, poly, _and_ bi, let's kick his ass."

"Yikes." 

"Yeah. So I probably should have qualified it as a couple of _straight_ kids at prom."

"Boring with unwarranted confidence?"

"Only worried about getting caught necking by a chaperone resulting in a slap on the wrist."

"Necking," Alex repeated doubtfully as they stepped out of the elevator. The lights turned on automatically, but Michael ignored the usual table and headed straight for the stairwell. 

"We were standing a while. You okay to go up?" he asked; he loosened his tie.

"You're taking me to the roof?"

Michael shrugged. "We can stay here if you want, same basic principle, but the roof is better."

"I'm okay to go up," Alex assured him. "And come back down. I don't particularly enjoy the noise of fireworks anymore, though."

Michael led him up the stairs. "Me neither. We're not shooting any off from the grounds, but I got headphones in case any other ones are too much. We can silent disco it."

The roof was covered in potted greenery. Michael's fancy telescope had its own designated space with a small desk and chair nearby, but that wasn't where they headed, either. "Do you like the view?"

Alex didn't take his eyes off Michael. "Yeah, I do."

He beamed back. "Me too."

"So we're up here, alone, for... necking purposes?" 

They finally stopped at a wicker couch with cushions. Michael considered him as Alex sat down, looking up expectantly, then he picked up a nearby box and joined him. "I mean, we do have about an hour and a half to kill before midnight. And I do like you a lot."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." He took a quilt from the box and spread it over their legs. "Necking, making out, handies, whatever you want, Alex."

"Mm, maybe not that last one up here, unless you want to explain the state of our very nice suits to your sister later."

He didn't try to deny that they'd make a mess. "You're no fun."

"That's not what you said this morning."

Michael pouted at him, so the obvious solution was to kiss him, and Alex did so intently.

Minutes or hours later, Michael asked, "You sure you wanna keep our clothes on?"

"No," he admitted, "but it's freezing out, Guerin, we'd get hypothermia."

"Ever the bodyguard." He automatically pulled up the quilt to cover them more. "You wanna go back inside?"

"I think we'll be okay like this."

"Cuddling makes everything better," he said as if it was a profound statement. 

Alex supposed it was. "I love you," he said, awestruck.

"I love you, too." He grinned. "You know, Izzy is taking bets on when we're getting married."

"Oh, yeah? Can I get in on that?"

Michael laughed. "You planning on proposing?"

It might have crossed his mind. "Maybe. Are you?"

"I asked you to move in with me, it's your turn to ask me."

Alex gave a soft laugh. "That's fair. What are the bets?"

"Max thinks we essentially eloped at the safehouse. Everyone else nixed that because Isobel would justifiably kill us if she didn't get to plan a wedding for us."

"Who is everyone?"

"My siblings, Liz, Arturo, their bodyguards and Jenna."

"Right. When else?"

"They all agreed that we wouldn't get married before Max and Liz did, and I tried to tell them that I am a big enough dick to absolutely do that, but they brought up Isobel planning it again. So it goes already married, to three months after their wedding, and then in three month intervals after that."

Alex nodded. "To how many years?"

"Five out."

"And how petty do we feel about this gambling venture?"

"Late 2025 would be a good time for a wedding, don't you think?"

"Mmm, yeah, sounds good." They watched the night sky. "I seem to recall you saying you'd rather elope than wait more than a year."

"Yeah, but being petty is way more important at this point."

"But if we weren't being petty, if there were no bets--"

"Then I would have eloped with you already because I've already love you a year. I want to be yours. And you know I love getting on my knees for you."

"I know," Alex said smugly. "I love when you do that too."

"Thank you," Michael said proudly.

"I'm still going to ask anyway, but I'm going to need you to use your imagination for a minute because I am not moving from under this blanket or screwing up my knee, okay? Picture this: I get down on one knee, right up here," Alex said. He found Michael's hands under the quilt. "I take your hands, just like this, and I ask, Michael Guerin, will you-- Are you crying?"

"No," he said obstinately, even as he lifted their hands to his face to wipe his eyes. Alex released him to gently wipe the tears away. "I just got all the love I have for you stuck in my eye. I'm not crying."

"I see." Alex smiled at him, his eyes just as watery. "Do you want me to finish my proposal, then?"

He nodded with a sniff.

"Michael Guerin, will you marry me?"

" _Fuck_ yes," he said, pressing into Alex to kiss him senseless even as he laughed.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy 2020!!!!!!!!
> 
> Y'all ever just get like, writing fatigue, where you got so far and you're soooo close to being done and you just YELL (internally) and Do Not Finish? Well. Howdy. It took me almost two months to break through that but I did it! Yay! (also not helpful was THE MESS in 206. Thanks but no thanks. Sorry but I'm never writing her again.)
> 
> Instance 1: Alex and the other guards playing poker  
> Instance 2: Isobel taking bets on the Fight  
> Instance 3: Isobel taking bets on the Wedding
> 
> Anyway. There's actually! one more prequel! Taking place in 2009! That is also almost done! And will be posted within the series! It's about pod squad and their birth parents! And fuck it! Max and Isobel are really twins!
> 
> There could be a sequel. Maybe. Don't count on it.


End file.
